Bangladesh Cricket Board Accuses Afghanistan U-19 Captain of Bowling Extra Over

New Delhi, October 24 (Daily Kiran) : The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has formally accused Afghanistan’s U-19 captain, Sohail Khan, of bowling an extra over in a recent One Day International match against Bangladesh. The complaint was detailed in a letter sent to the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).

Bangladesh U-19 coach Hannan Sarkar stated that the team has also highlighted several umpiring errors in their correspondence. A specific note was attached, indicating that during the third match of the series, Sohail Khan bowled 11 overs instead of the prescribed 10.

In the match held in Al Emirates, Afghanistan batted first, scoring 237 runs, thanks to impressive performances from Subhan Zakhail (81) and Shah Faisal Rahimi (80). Bangladeshi bowler Al Amin Hossain took 6 wickets in that innings. In response, Bangladesh was bowled out for 194 runs in 38.2 overs, with Sohail Khan claiming 2 wickets.

According to a report by Cricinfo, the Bangladeshi team engaged in lengthy discussions with match referee Yasir Latifzai, addressing the alleged umpiring mistakes and the issue of the additional over bowled by Khan.

Sarkar explained that they included the umpiring concerns in their captain’s report, along with a special note regarding the extra over. He pointed out that there was no designated section in the standard report format for such information, necessitating the addition of the note after the list of decisions.

Sarkar elaborated, “Their captain, who is also their main strike bowler, bowled a total of 11 overs in the third match. We did not have access to the official scorer, so we were checking the scorecard via Cricinfo on the team manager’s phone. Our analyst’s records indicated that Sohail Khan had already completed 10 overs. By the time we noticed, he had started bowling another over. We informed the umpire as soon as that over concluded, but it was already too late.”

He confirmed that the video of the disputed over was sent to the match referee. The confusion arose when the scorer mistakenly attributed the over to another bowler. Initially, a different player was set to bowl and had even handed his cap to the umpire, but at the last moment, Khan decided to take over. Despite this, the scorer recorded the over under Shah Faisal Rahimi’s name, while Bangladesh contended that it was bowled by Sohail.

“This mix-up occurred because the official scorer had recorded 10 overs for Khan. He mistakenly credited an over to a player who did not actually bowl. The player had given his cap to the umpire but then withdrew, allowing the captain to bowl instead. The scorer failed to notice this change and attributed the over to the other player,” Sarkar explained.

The report also mentioned that BCB expressed concerns over the umpiring decisions, which they deemed incorrect, including calls for LBW and caught behind. A BCB official stated, “We have written to inform them of what transpired during the bilateral series. We advised them to be more vigilant in the future.”