Ban without inquiry surprises Rupganj chairman

Lutfar Rahman Badal, the Legends of Rupganj chairman, has said that he was surprised at the speed with which BCB's disciplinary committee handed him a life ban. He said that his letter to the board president, dated November 30, concerning the standard of umpiring was not replied to, neither any investigation held.

"The disciplinary committee took the decision in a matter of hours which really surprised me," Badal told ESPNcricinfo. "First it was the CCDM [Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis] that temporarily banned me without basing their decision on any report from the match referee, which should have been the proper way. Furthermore, I think the BCB usually takes disciplinary decision after recommendations from the disciplinary committee but here it was different.

"I had raised the topic of umpiring in my matches with the BCB president in a letter but those were not taken into account. I would have liked to see the BCB take those concerns seriously and investigate the matter."

But it was Lutfar's December 3 outburst against the BCB president Nazmul Hassan and two other directors that brought on the severe sentence. In addition, Rupganj joint secretary Tarikul Islam and team manager Sabbir Ahmed received five and three-year bans for allegedly intimidating and abusing match officials. On Tuesday, the decision was taken after a meeting of the disciplinary committee, which was attended by a number of board directors, apart from the chairman Sheikh Sohel. The committee did not summon the Rupganj officials to defend their cases.

They took the decision a few hours after the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) had put a temporary ban on Lutfar and Tarikul. On the same afternoon, Lutfar had apologised to all the concerned parties for his verbal attack.

On December 3, after Rupganj's Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League match against Prime Bank Cricket Club Lutfar used objectionable language towards BCB directors Khaled Mahmud and Ismail Haider Mallick, and said that Hassan was aware of every "wrongdoing". He also accused board officials of rigging league schedules and umpire appointments in his club's matches. The outburst drew sharp criticism from the BCB directors, club officials, the players' association and the umpires' association. They held a press conference on December 8 demanding a ban on Lutfar.

Legends of Rupganj, formerly known as Gazi Tank Cricketers, are the defending Dhaka Premier League champions.