Dhaka Premier League match called off by umpires

The Dhaka Premier League (DPL) has been in the news lately for the number of Indian players announcing their participation in the league. However, more recently, the DPL has become subject to the umpires walking off as the clash between Abahani Limited and Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club was called off after the umpires walked off.

The umpires of the match staged a walk-off in the 16th over of the encounter when Raqibul Hasan was not given out by umpire Gazi Sohel. Left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib was the bowler and there was an appeal for a stumping that was turned down. The incident saw Abhani Limited skipper Tamim Iqbal and his teammates protest the decision and subsequently hurl abuses at Tanwir Ahmed and Gazi Sohel. They left the field after the consultation of Montu Datta.

The walk-off saw the umpires employ the Duckworth-Lewis method to revise the target given the fact that time was lost during the protest.

Mizanur Rahman Babul said: “Why should we go by the Duckworth/Lewis method? Our club officials are not going to abide by it today. The match didn’t stop because of us. What happened was quite unfortunate”.

Khaled Mahmud, the Abahani coach, had a different view of the proceedings.

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”There was no threat or any situation created that the umpires had to leave the field,” he said. “They could have handled the situation much better. It is quite natural that [Prime] Doleshwar didn’t want to play according to the D/L method when the situation didn’t demand of such a thing.”

“They will let us know if the match will go ahead on the reserve day since the umpires mentioned illness as the cause for coming off the field,” Dutta said.