Sports Desk:

Mushfiqur Rahim stirred up the Bangladesh cricketing fraternity on Friday morning posting a photo, and all that did was paint a sorry picture for the country’s premier List A competition.

The photo was a snapshot of the ongoing DPL 2024 match between Mohammedan Sporting Club and Prime Bank Cricket Club on Thursday. As Prime Bank were chasing 318, they needed Mushfiq to step up and the batter had reached 10 off 11 balls when he tried to send Nayeem Hasan to the boundary.

What came in the way of the ball going for a boundary was Abu Hider Rony, who leapt in the air to grab the ball. While there were questions about Rony’s trailing leg touching the boundary ropes, the umpires counted it as a fair catch as according to the laws of this tournament, if the fielder is confident with the catch – as Rony was – then the decision stands.

Replays, though, showed that the decision was not correct as Rony’s feet had touched the boundary rope before he completed the full action of the catch.

Mushfiq, then on Friday morning, decided to post the photo of Rony’s feet touching the rope with a caption indicating sarcasm, marking the fact that he was indeed not out but given out.

All his post did was paint a sorry picture of Bangladesh’s premier domestic List A tournament – that the players, while behaving in an unprofessional manner by talking about erred decision-making on social media, had to come out and show the dire condition this competition is running in.

A third umpire would have easily spotted the fact that Mushfiq was not out but despite the technology being more than three decades in age, the Bangladesh Cricket Board or the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis – who run the tournament – have managed to introduce it in the tournament that is considered to be the pipeline for the national team.

Similar incidents of lack of facilities are not uncommon, and so are not such behaviour from players.

In 2021, Shakib Al Hasan kicked the stumps after an umpire turned down his appeal for LBW, and this year, Prime Bank skipper Tamim Iqbal was seen arguing with the umpires after an LBW appeal did not go in their favour.

Even the fixtures are not concrete as the tournament committee just goes with the flow about it. The fixtures of the first two matchdays of the Super League stage – which started on April 22 – were announced on April 20, and the date for the final three games – which will start on April 30 – were only announced on Friday.

Mushfiq’s post did not stir up any extra controversy for DPL – it has been filled with controversies for a long time. What it did was add another sorry coat of paint hiding the DPL’s lost golden days, and the way the 50-over format is losing its charm across the globe, unless there are radical changes, it is unlikely that DPL will ever go back to its lost glory.