Social-media fracas brings Sabbir Rahman under BCB scanner
ESPNcricinfo has obtained a screenshot of a message sent to a fan, from what is widely believed to be the batsman's official Facebook account, containing foul language and threat of physical harm
ESPNcricinfo staff
28-Jul-2018
Sabbir Rahman celebrates his half-century • AFP
The BCB will investigate Sabbir Rahman for allegedly abusing and threatening two fans on social media after Bangladesh's second ODI in Guyana on Wednesday. The incident comes while he is serving a punishment for physically assaulting a child during a first-class game in December 2017.
BCB's chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the board would take "appropriate action" after looking into the possible breach in conduct.
"Players, especially national players, are given definitive guidelines on how to behave with fans and on social media," Chowdhury told the Dhaka-based Daily Star. "They have been told that they must be very careful when interacting with the public on social media. Since it is out in the public and when it has come to the board's knowledge, if such a breach has occurred it will be referred to the disciplinary committee and appropriate action taken."
ESPNcricinfo has obtained a screenshot of the message sent to one of the fans, from the Facebook account of "Shabbir Rahaman Roman" (the name also used in BCB's official emails to the players and media), which has more than 90,000 followers and is widely believed to be Sabbir's personal account. The message contains foul language and threat of physical harm.
It came hours after the fan had posted a sarcastic comment on Sabbir's current form; he has managed only 15 runs in the two ODIs. Another user had tagged Sabbir on to the post, after which the messages were sent. Both fans were blocked by the "Shabbir Rahaman Roman" account thereafter.
The account itself has now been deactivated, which, according to the Daily Star report, happened after the BCB was informed of the incident on Thursday evening.
Sabbir has got into trouble with authority in the past, apart from being punished for assaulting a child during a Rajshahi Division first-class game, for which he was also stripped of his central contract, and fined $25,000. During the 2016 BPL, Sabbir was fined USD 15,000 for "disciplinary breaches".