Tamim Iqbal accuses BPL franchisee official of insulting his family

Tamim Iqbal refused to name the franchisee official who insulted his family

Bangladesh Premier League’s recent match between Chittagong Vikings and Sylhet Superstars ended on a bitter note. After the match got over Vikings’ Tamim Iqbal accused a franchisee official for insulting his parents.

The Bangladeshi opener told reporters, “The one thing I want to say is that people need to respect national cricketers. People have money but that doesn’t mean they will treat a national cricketer like a beggar. People need to start respecting us. We are here to play cricket, I haven’t come here to hear insults about my parents or my family. And I was so nice to that individual, I even called him sir. He asked me to stand up and talk to him and I did that. Then he said a really bad thing about my family, which was very insulting.”

However, this wasn’t the only unwanted incident to have happened on that day. According to the League’s rules, in all the matches, a team has to field four foreign players. This particular match got delayed as the foreign players Sylhet wanted in their team, did not have the necessary no-objection certificates from their home-boards. Due to this, BPL’s technical committee which has the right to ‘edit or delete’ a rule, allowed Sylhet to field two foreign players in the match.

Following this, the two captains exchanged team lists and the toss took place at 1:55 p.m. To everyone’s surprise, when the match began Sylhet had four foreign players on field including Joshua Cobb and Ravi Bopara, the two players who were in question. Tamim protested against this and walked off the field. As per norms, after toss, a team composition can be changed only if the opposition captain gives permission.

After Tamim walked off, discussion discussion between the players, franchisee officials and members of the BPL’s technical committee took place for almost an hour. Tamim was talking to an official of Sylhets and in the midst of their discussion the cricketer lost his cool and walked back to the dressing room. According to the 26-year-old, this official was trying to convince him about the four players’ situation and later insulted his family. He has also reacted to this incident today on twitter.

Whatever happened yesterday should not be repeated. I was insulted and my family was verbally abused. I never ask my fans to do anything 1/2

— Tamim Iqbal Khan (@TamimOfficial28) November 24, 2015

for me bt I hop u all'll try to make sure a prson who's representin ur flag &ur country is nev abused in public in such a way for no reason.

— Tamim Iqbal Khan (@TamimOfficial28) November 24, 2015

The Bangladeshi opener also compared BPL franchisees to their IPL counterparts. He said, “These franchisees may have a lot of money, but there is a 1000 times more money in the IPL. I might not have played in the IPL but I was in the squad. I know how they treat players. He refused to name the official and added, “I think you all know what I am talking about.”

The match finally began at 3:10 p.m. and Sylhet played with two foreign players.