Sabbir Rahman likely to face another lengthy ban from cricket

08/31/2018

Bangladesh cricketer Sabbir Rahman will be in danger of facing another long-term ban going to be imposed by BCB. Allegations have been made that a fan has been abused through Sabbir’s official account on social media, following Bangladesh’s loss to West Indies in the second ODI in July.

Following his alleged outburst on social media and the abuse concerning a fan, Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) Disciplinary Committee will be conducting a hearing on Saturday to discuss the whole matter. There are chances that the player will have to face another ban after this episode on social media.

For the first time, since his debut in the international cricket in 2014, Sabbir had been dropped from the national team’s ODI squad for assaulting a spectator physically. As a punishment, his central contract was removed along with a fine and ban from playing domestic cricket for six months in January. Previously, he had been fined in 2016 by BCB for “serious off-field disciplinary breaches”, when the Bangladesh Premier League had been going on.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has clearly indicated that a repetitive offensive behaviour will certainly count for some punishment, though Rahman will be given a chance of defending himself. A summon has been given to Nasir Hossain as well by the Disciplinary Committee for being involved in a social media scandal, early this year. Mosaddek Hossain has also been called after he was sued by his wife Sharmin Samira, though the couple are divorced now.

“The disciplinary committee will hold Sabbir's hearing after which we will reach a decision. He is not in the ODI squad, which could also be because of the hearing's influence. One has to be given a chance to defend himself. We will take an appropriate action,” Hassan said."When we see our punishment has no impact on a cricketer, we have to give him more stringent punishments. We also have to be fair in our judgment. If it [the allegation] is proved, however, we have to take a final decision which, for me, is being ousted from the national team,” he added.

Such offensive behaviour has been exhibited by the players in the past as well. Rubel Hossain had to face jail time in 2015, after a fall out with his girlfriend. Responsible for breaking a team curfew in Brisbane, Al-Amin Hossain was sent back to Bangladesh. Shortly after, Shahadat Hossain was arrested and jailed for assaulting his own house help.

Nazmul Hassan stated that BCB wants to improve such issues in the team. They are considering to hire a psychologist in order to help the players mentally. They will be thinking of curbing their social media freedom when they are on tours. Ultimately, he said, the power to prevent such behaviour will lie with the players only.

“The players have to follow the guidelines but, at the end of the day, the players have to be good themselves. We cannot force it on them,” he said.