Bangladesh batsman Sabbir Rahman has had his central contract revoked for assaulting a young cricket fan who taunted him during a match last month.
The 26-year-old was also slapped with a six-month ban from the domestic game and a fine of two million taka ($24,000) over the incident, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said.
The national contract for Bangladeshi players was due to go into effect on January 1, 2018.
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The decision came after Rahman was found to have assaulted a young fan, believed to be aged 12, who had taunted him during a first-class National Cricket League match in Rahman’s hometown of Rajshahi on December 21.
During an innings break, the middle-order batsman went behind the sightscreen and beat the boy.
He was also under fire for arguing with the match referee when he was called for a hearing.
“We would like to send a strong message to all players on the first day of New Year. No matter how big a player one might be, he must maintain discipline,” Hassan told reporters.
“He (Rahman) was called for a hearing earlier and we also received the report from the match referee. He’ll no longer be a contracted player,” he said.
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Rahman, who has played 10 Tests, 46 one-day internationals and 33 Twenty20 internationals since his international debut in 2014, has a history of disciplinary problems.
In 2016 the BCB fined him 30 percent of his contract money in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Twenty20 tournament when he allegedly took a female guest to his hotel room during the tournament.
The board also fined star batsman Tamim Iqbal half-a-million taka ($6,000) after he spoke publicly against the BCB’s pitch preparations during the recent edition of the BPL.
