West Indies pacer Krishmar Santokie has come under the scanner after delivering a massive wide and no ball during a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match.
Santokie, who plays for the Sylhet Thunders, bowled a huge wide down the leg side in the third delivery of his first over and followed that up with a massive front foot no-ball two deliveries later during their game against Chattogram Challengers on Wednesday.
Sylhet Thunders team director Tanjil Chowdhury, who is one of seven directors appointed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to work with each of the franchises, revealed after the match that he has requested the board to investigate those deliveries as he felt they were suspicious.
“The no-ball that he bowled is suspicious. He [Santokie] is not yet called by the BCB but I have lodged my complaint. I verbally requested CEO and Morshed [BCB anti-corruption head] to investigate the matter,” Chowdhury said.
“We (BCB directors) don’t have anything to do with the playing XI. It is up to the management and the coach. I asked the sponsors whether they interfered in the playing XI and they are refusing to say anything. Now we have to talk with the team management and know whether anyone influenced them to play Santokie because it seems he is associated with spot-fixing.”
Chowdhury further added that he was suspicious of the Thunders’ main sponsors as they insisted on bringing in certain players and eventually got their wish despite there being a lot of conflict during the day of the draft.
“On the day of the players draft, there was a lot of conflict between us. Me and team director Sarowar Imran was convinced with certain decisions. The sponsors were insisting on taking a few cricketers and we were not sure why they are insisting to pick those cricketers,” he said.
“We had the chance to pick Nayeem Sheikh and other players. But they preferred to pick players like Sohag Gazi and Santokie. That is the reason we have started doubting them. I have informed BCB governing council members and the BCB president.”
Thunder lost the match by five wickets with Santokie ending the game with figures of 1-34. They next face the Rajshahi Royals on Friday.