Bangladesh cricket board chief Nazmul Hasan has revealed that he was unaware of Sabbir Rahman still serving his six-month international suspension when he got selected for Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of New Zealand in late February.
“To be honest, I have not been involved with the team as far as selection goes in the last three months at all. I feel the Sabbir Rahman selection probably happened because the captain and the coach wanted it to happen for a while, especially with the World Cup in mind. Basically they wanted to have Sabbir in the team to see if he can perform ahead of the World Cup. It could also be that they want Sabbir to be with the national team to get re-accustomed mentally with the national setup. His ban would have been over 15-20 days after the ODI series too and he did play a good knock of 85 in the BPL recently. So I guess keeping everything in mind, he got the recall,” Nazmul said to a private TV channel at Chittagong.
The BCB chief also revealed that he was informed Sabbir Rahman’s ban was over when he was signing the team list and he saw Sabbir was included: “When the team list came and I had to sign it, I asked if Sabbir’s ban was over. I was told that it’s over. Perhaps it was a mistake but I didn’t inquire on the matter any further.”
But Nazmul has warned that this was last chance saloon for the right-handed batsman and further mistakes off field would result in him putting his international cricket career in jeopardy: “This is his last chance. If he makes the same mistake again he will never play again. I feel if he was given a longer time to think and understand his issues then it would have been better for him. It’s a big risk for Sabbir as another small mistake could potentially end his career.”
