During the T20 World Cup, Bangladeshi paceman, Taskin Ahmed, was involved in a scandal when he was alleged to have been overlooked for the deciding clash against India in the Super Eights because of oversleeping and not making it to the team bus. Nonetheless, the player dismissed these allegations as he reasoned that his exclusion had occurred on account of combination reasons.
The case happened at North Sound in Antigua on June 22 where Bangladesh lost their match against India by 50 runs. The Tigers made just one change to their playing XI with Jaker Ali replacing Taskin.
Taskin Ahmed clarified his position on this issue in an interview with Dhaka based newspaper Ajker Patrika. He admitted that he arrived late but added that he reached around 30-40 minutes before the toss.
“I arrived at the ground about 30-40 minutes before toss. They came at around 8:35 am.” “I missed team bus.” “The hotel bus left at 8:35am and I went out of my way to go at eight forty three.” “I almost caught up with them in the same bus.” This does not mean they did not pick me because I was late. There is no need for me to play,” said PTI quoting PTI quoting pacer Taskin.
Nevertheless, despite Taskin’s apology for his actions, veteran all-rounder and ex captain Shakib Al Hasan stated it became difficult for him to be selected due to his late arrival.
“The bus usually departs after a certain time. And there is no point about whether or not you arrive on time or are early. The team bus doesn’t wait for anyone because everyone knows what time it leaves every morning… if someone misses it (bus), they can drop down here (ground) or take taxi from managers’ car… It’s hard to get transport in West Indies.
He came five to ten minutes before the toss, so naturally it was difficult for the team management to select him… Even on personal level that was a bad situation for the player. Taskin said sorry in front of everyone and we all took it very sportingly. It wasn’t intentional. So that’s where it ended,” he said.
According to reports, Taskin did not pay any fine over this incident. When questioned about this matter, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan claimed that he had bee informed by the team manager that Taskin missed team bus but came late to pitch.
