Three cricketers' casino visit after 200-run loss raises eyebrows

Bangladesh's tour of South Africa has not been upto the mark for the Tigers as they lost comprehensively in both the Test and ODI series against the home side. But rather than contemplating about what went wrong, it was learned from a source that three Bangladesh players visited a casino in East London following their third and final ODI against the Proteas at Buffalo Park Sunday. It was also learned that the trio returned to their team hotel after the restricted time of 10pm, local time. The three players in question are pace bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Shafiul Islam and all-rounder Nasir Hossain. When queried about the allegation, team manager Minhajul Abedin, who also happens to be the chief national selector, informed that the three cricketers went there for dinner, and that they also returned to their hotel rooms within the allocated time.

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Also read: Three cricketers to be investigated upon return, says BCB boss Nazmul

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"Since there was not a game a day later, we set a curfew for 10pm, and they told me that they came back within that time," said Minhajul at Premier Hotel in East London, prior to departing for Bloemfontein for the two-match T20I series, starting Thursday at Mangaung Oval. “They went out to eat and walked over to the casino. [Kagiso] Rabada and [AB] de Villiers were also there. “I will look into the matter in the team meeting in Bloemfontein," he added. Taskin played the Buffalo Park ODI while Nasir was dropped. Shafiul only flew to South Africa last week as a replacement of the injured paceman Mustafizur Rahman. And so the question remains. Even if they came back within the permitted time, the timing of their casino visit, right after a series sweep by the opposition, has raised quite a few eyebrows. As the Tigers lost by a huge margin of 200 runs Sunday, their casino visit perhaps might not go down well with the people associated with Bangladesh cricket.