Tamim asked to show cause

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) served a show-cause letter to Comilla Victorians captain Tamim Iqbal for his statement regarding the pitches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. According to sources, BCB took the step as they felt that being a contracted player Tamim was not supposed to make such a statement. Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza also criticised the pitches but curiously the Bangladesh ODI skipper did not receive a letter from the board as the game's governing body considered Tamim's characterisation of the pitch as 'horrible' in the presentation ceremony was a code of conduct breach.

"I can assure you that the BPL governing council didn't serve anything to him [Tamim Iqbal] but if anything happened then it could only come from the board," said BPL governing council chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha last night.

The spotlight fell on BCB chief curator Gamini Silva for all the wrong reasons due to the uneven bounce on the Mirpur surface after Rangpur Riders captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Tamim raised questions about the surfaces on Saturday, when teams were dismissed for totals of 97 and 106, and 67 the following day.

Although BPL governing council member secretary IH Mallick expressed a different view on Sunday and put the onus on the batsmen for low-scoring matches, it was not enough to make the issue go away as Dhaka Dynamites batsman Mosaddek Hossain also felt the need for better pitches. "I think the wicket should be better than what it is now because fans love to watch four and sixes in a T20 game. There is also the question of the batsmen's confidence. We played in Chittagong and you just see the difference between the wickets in Chittagong and Dhaka. I think we should be more caring about the pitches," said Mosaddek while talking to reporters yesterday at Mirpur.

When the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) resumes after a day's break today, there will not be much interest about the outcome of the matches over the next two days, except to see who plays against whom in the playoffs. Instead, the point of interest will be the nature of the pitches as the tournament enters its high-stakes phase.

Four teams -- Comilla Victorians, Dhaka Dynamites, Khulna Titans and Rangpur Riders -- have already confirmed their places in the last four and while Comilla will maintain their pole position regardless of what happens in the remaining league matches, the three other teams are yet to confirm if they will be playing the qualifier against Comilla or duking it out in the Eliminator.