 "BCB responds after presence of Bangladeshi umpire in IND-NZ ODI raises eyebrows: 'There is no authority...'")
Amid the ongoing tensions between the cricket boards of India and Bangladesh due to the sudden ejection of Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League, the presence of Bangladeshi umpire. Left-arm pacer Mustafizur had been released by Kolkata Knight Riders on 3 January after being acquired by the franchise for Rs 9.2 crore in the auction, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India reportedly making the decision following protests in India.
Mustafizur’s sudden release, however, sparked outrage in Bangladesh and led to the Bangladesh Cricket Board revoking the pacer’s No Objection Certificate for the IPL. The board has also refused to send the Litton Kumar Das-led senior men's team to India for the T20 World Cup that gets underway next month, putting the ICC as well as the BCCI in a difficult spot. The Muhammad Yunus-led interim Bangladesh government later banned the telecast of the world’s biggest T20 league in the country.
The presence of Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat – a member of ICC’s Elite Panel of Umpires’ – in the ongoing first ODI between India and New Zealand in Vadodara as the third umpire thus raises eyebrows, considering the strained ties between the two boards as well as the larger picture – the rising anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh since fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government in August 2024.
BCB insist they have no involvement
The BCB, however, has clarified they have nothing to do with Sharfuddoula’s presence in the opening game of the three-match ODI series between the Men in Blue and the Black Caps, and that the 49-year-old is simple fulfilling his duty as an ICC-contracted umpire.
“He (Saikat) is ICC-contracted umpire and we are saying this clearly that he is not contracted with us (BCB),” Iftekhar Rahman, chairman of BCB’s umpire department, told Cricbuzz.
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View All“Now, in our contract it is written that when he has any ICC assignment, he will automatically be on leave from us. It will be an automatic leave and I don’t need to give any NOC.
“In the job contract he has with me, it is written that if he has any ICC engagement, he must be automatically released. There is no authority for me to decide whether I give permission or not,” he added.
The ICC, meanwhile, is reportedly set to turn down BCB’s request for moving their matches out of India to Sri Lanka, where the Men in Blue’s arch-rivals Pakistan will be playing all of their games.
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The Bangla Tigers are placed in Group C alongside two-time champions England and West Indies and were initially scheduled to play three games at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and later face Nepal at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
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