Santokie quizzed for ‘no-ball’ incident in BBPL

The Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) quizzed Sylhet Thunder pacer Krishmar Santokie, whose 'no-ball' and 'wide' delivery during the opening game against Chattogram Challengers in Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL) opener on December 11 raised an eyebrow.

Santokie bowled a huge wide in his third delivery and the no-ball that he bowled two balls later was also questioned as he was way over the line. Those two deliveries created a huge uproar in the cricketer fraternity as many cricket pundits termed those two deliveries as intentional.

Even Sylhet Thunder team director Tanjil Chowdhury expressed his doubt over those deliveries and requested BCB to investigate the wide and no-ball.

"Santokie was interrogated for long period by ACU members and they were looking deeply into his track record," BCB media and communications committee chairman Jalal Younus said here today.

"It's not that board [BCB] is sitting idle without doing anything in this regard [for the allegation on Santokie about the no-ball and wide ball]," he added.

"They [ACU] were particularly focused on knowing about his[ Santokie] track record during the long sessions with him as you need to know about it thoroughly while dealing with such cases," he revealed.

Sylhet lost that match by five wickets with Santokie picking up 1 for 34 from his four overs. Despite such allegation team management decided to stick with the 35-year old left-arm pace bowler of Jamaica who had represented the West Indies at international Twenty20 level.

"They [ACU] probably had already provided their report to the board though I am not sure about their decision that is placed in that report," Jalal informed.

Sylhet is currently placed in the bottom of the points table along with Rangpur Rangers as both the teams managed to secure one win from six games.