Match referee denies submitting report of halted DPL match

Montu Datta, the match referee of the halted Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club v Abahani Limited DPL Super League match, has said that he has not submitted his report to the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, the BCB standing committee that runs the tournament. He said that he only sent them an email containing his version of the events that transpired on June 12.

The match was halted on Sunday when on-field umpires Gazi Sohel and Tanvir Ahmed walked off the field citing "illness" as the reason, after the Abahani players and fans protested when umpire Tanvir adjudged Raqibul Hasan not out following an appeal for stumping in the 16th over of Doleshwar's innings. The umpires consulted with Datta and subsequently left the field. The match was not played on the reserve day, Monday.

CCDM's Dhaka Premier League coordinator Amin Khan had claimed on Monday that Datta had submitted his report which effectively postponed the game as it was not held on the reserve day too. Amin said that Datta only mentioned that the umpires cited illness as the reason to not conduct the match and did not write anything about any team, players or supporters using abusive language or threatening the umpires.

But Datta said the match referee's report is based on the umpires' report which has not been submitted to him yet. He further said that both reports had to be submitted only after the match was completed.

"How can I submit my match report before the game is completed?" Datta said. "Until the match is completed you cannot really propose any action against anyone. You cannot take anyone to task without a hearing and if we had completed the match today [Monday] we could have followed the steps required to implement our verdict.

"What I gave [to the CCDM] wasn't a report. I sent them an email telling them what had happened on Sunday. At the time of sending them the mail, the umpires hadn't even submitted their report. How can a match referee prepare his report when the umpires haven't given theirs?"

Datta also said that his report would also include what the umpires had written about Tamim Iqbal, who was seen arguing with Sohel after the stumping appeal.