It was learned that Comilla Victorians captain Tamim Iqbal received a show cause letter from the BCB after criticising the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka following their BPL 2017 match against Rangpur Riders Saturday.
After their clash against Rangpur, Tamim had said, “We always hear that since so many matches are played on these wickets, the pitch behaves the way it is doing now. But now? No games have been played in this ground for the last 10 days. But still we get such unacceptable wicket for a T20 game.
“I feel sorry for the spectators. The batting side scored only 97 and the chasing team had to bat until the last over of the match to reach their target. It’s very much frustrating for the spectators, and even for the teams as well.
“Our cricket board and we, the players, all want to carry BPL to the next level, in terms of standard. But to reach the next step, we must play on good sporting wickets. It is frustrating to play on such kind of rubbish wicket. I am saying this, despite winning the game.
“It is not like the curator does not know how to produce good wickets in Mirpur. We have seen many times that good wickets have been produced here. But I don’t know what actually happens when BPL comes around. The outfield also becomes less green and slow compared to the previous times. We have to find out the problem. We need to improve our wicket and need to do it soon.”
“I am not aware of any letter. This is not a matter of the BPL governing council. If the board wants, they can send the letter. But Sunday, I heard that many board members did not like Tamim’s comment. They were discussing about this,” BPL GC member secretary Ismail Haider Mallick was quoted as saying.
Mallick added, “I don’t know the details. But I can confirm that there were discussions going on regarding this. The way Mashrafe [bin Mortaza] spoke about the wicket, none of the board members had any problem with him. But some of them did not like the way Tamim spoke out on the matter.
“Previously Rashid Khan of Comilla got big turn from the wicket. Many were finding it difficult to face him. At that time, none of them had any problem with the wicket. So why now? You have to understand the wicket.
“I am saying this again, this wicket is not ideal for T20. But this is not “rubbish” either. You can score 150-160 here if you bat sensibly. We have talked with the curator and the grounds committee so that they prepare good batting wicket.”
It should be mentioned that Rangpur captain Mashrafe had also criticised the Mirpur track, alongside Tamim.
