Bangladesh star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan has been suspended for three games and fined Tk 500,000 for abusing the match officials and damaging equipment during the Dhaka Premier League Twenty20 outing between Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani.

Shakib, who is also captain of Mohammedan Sporting, has been found guilty of breaching the Bangladesh Cricket Board's Code of Conduct twice, which the cricketer accepted, according to a Dhaka Tribune report.

“We were waiting for the report from the playing conditions team, which involves match referee and match umpires. Based on the report there were two incidents, one during an LBW appeal in over 4.6 where Shakib had kicked the stumps (after the umpire said not out).

“Another incident is from over 5.5 where the umpires had called the covers because of the rain. Here Shakib had removed the wickets,” said Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis chairman and technical committee member Kazi Inam Ahmed.

“For the two offences he [Shakib] has breached Level 3 twice. Based on that, he has been handed a three-game suspension and fined Tk 500,000. We did not require a hearing on this issue with Shakib as he has admitted to the breaches, agreed to the sanction and has signed the papers,” the BCB director added.

Shakib got incensed after umpire Imran Parvez turned down a leg-before appeal against Abahani skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and kicked at the stumps in protest.

An over later, he uprooted the set of stumps and threw them on the ground in anger as the umpire had called for cover due to rain.

The ace all-rounder made indecent gestures and got into a verbal spat with the opposition coaching staff during the match, which his team eventually won.

That caused Abahani coach and Bangladesh Cricket Board director Khaled Mahmud to become enraged and engage in a war of words before Mohammedan batsman Shamsur Rahman pacified Mahmud and took him away.

However, after the incident, it was learned that the star cricketer went to the Abahani dressing room and offered apologies.

The video of Shakib’s unruly behavior went viral as the match was telecast live on Facebook and YouTube, and a large number of fans condemned the ace cricketer who has a huge following in Bangladesh.

Mohammedan later won the game by 31 runs, courtesy the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Shakib later apologized through a Facebook post.

Shakib’s suspension, however, will not mean big damage to his club in the remainder of the tournament. According to reports, the left-arm all-rounder has already been granted leave by Mohammedan Sporting from Tuesday. Shakib had said he needed to be with his family in the USA before travelling to Zimbabwe later this month with the Bangladesh cricket team.

(SAM)