Uproar over umpiring decision halts DPL clash

The Dhaka Premier League match between Abahani Limited and Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club was called off after the umpires walked off the BKSP-3 stadium. The match was not played on the reserve day as the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, the BCB standing committee that runs the league, had not announced its decision.* The umpires had reportedly walked out citing "illness".

The incident that triggered them leaving the field occurred in the 16th over of Prime Doleshwar's chase when Raqibul Hasan was given not out by umpire Tanvir Ahmed off a stumping appeal from left-arm spinner Saqlain Sajib. The Abahani players protested and their fans began to hurl abuse at the umpires, at which point they left the field after consulting with match referee Montu Datta.

Eventually, Prime Doleshwar were asked to chase a revised target according to the D/L method, but they refused saying the weather wasn't a factor and the interruption wasn't their fault.

"Why should we go by the Duckworth/Lewis method? Our club officials are not going to abide by it today. The match didn't stop because of us. What happened was quite unfortunate," Prime Doleshwar coach Mizanur Rahman Babul said.

Khaled Mahmud, the Abahani coach, thought it was a case of the umpires overreacting. "There was no threat or any situation created that the umpires had to leave the field," he said. "They could have handled the situation much better. It is quite natural that [Prime] Doleshwar didn't want to play according to the D/L method when the situation didn't demand of such a thing."

* 0515am, June 13, 2016. The news article was updated with the information that the match was not played on the reserve day