Sabbir Rahman slammed with a 6-month domestic cricket ban, stripped of national contract

Bangladesh team’s middle order batsman Sabbir Rahman has been handed a six-month ban from domestic cricket and has also been stripped of the national team contract. The cricketer is penalized by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for behaving in an aggressive manner with a fan during a first-class game in sub-continent nation.

It is not the ideal start to a challenging new year for both the Tigers and Rahman, as the batsman is a key member of their line-up and would be expected to play his part for their better fortunes in 2018. Bangladesh faced tough and shaky times competing in the intense battles of international cricket in the preceding calendar year.

They reached the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England for the first time, after a scintillating win over the Kiwis in the league game. It was a great achievement for them in the year apart from the huge overseas losses against New Zealand and South Africa away from home.

The whole incident as it happened

The incident took place in the last round of NCL in Rajshahi, where a fan started teasing the Bangladeshi batsman. He decided to go off the field amidst the proceedings of the match, after asking approval from the on-field umpires.

Sabbir then walked off to the fan who was irritating him and started assaulting him near the sight-screen area. The right-hand batsman even behaved in an aggressive manner with the match referee, as he warned the official of revealing the details of the incident to the cricket board.

His frustrating kept on boiling and Sabbir also behaved in an offensive manner with the officials after they called him for a hearing on the episode. Originally, things should have been decided on the quantum of punishment handed over to the cricketer early in the day, but BCB took its time before revealing the complete details of the retribution. The board also mentioned that if the batsman repeats similar actions in future, then he will be banned from the sport for his entire life.