Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny banned by ICC

03/19/2016

Bangladesh's World Cup T20 campaign came in for a heavy shock today after the ICC handed over bans to pacer Taskin Ahmed and spinner Arafat Sunny for suspect bowling action. While the ban has been long expected, its timing could derail their Cup with Taskin being their primary bowling weapon.

In an official statement, the ICC suspended both Taskin and Sunny with immediate effect further crippling the Bangladeshi side, which had lost its first match in the event.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that independent assessments have found the bowling actions of Bangladesh's Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed to be illegal and, as such, both the bowlers have been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect," said ICC’s official statement.

The ban follows after the ICC analysis found that 15 degrees level of tolerance was breached by Arafat Sunny, said the release.

"As a consequence of these suspensions, the Bangladesh cricket team is permitted to apply to the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 Event Technical Committee for approval to replace the two bowlers in the squad for the remainder of the event," an ICC statement said

(Read about Bangladesh's appeal to ICC to withdraw Taskin's ban)

However, both Taskin and Sunny can bowl in the domestic circuit, subject to a permission from the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Bangladesh, who have already lost their first game in the ongoing World T20 at the hands of Pakistan, now face an uphill task in the absence of two of their best bowlers for the rest of the tournament.

Arafat Sunny and Taskin Ahmed each picked a couple of wickets in their defeat to Pakistan in a lost cause. The Sunny-Ahmed duo gave away 34 and 32 runs respectively but Pakistan posted a 200+ score as the other Bangladesh bowlers bled runs.

Taskin Ahmed was also in the midst of a controversy earlier this month for no fault of his when a few over-enthusiatic Bangladesh fans posted images of him with Dhoni's head on social media.

Bangladesh will next face Australia at Bangalore on March 21.

(Read who all make it to our combined India-Pakistan XI)