BPL: Malik leaves Fortune Barishal abruptly after just three games
Team owner says Malik’s contract was until February 14 but he wanted to leave early
Mohammad Isam26-Jan-2024Shoaib Malik has left the BPL abruptly after playing just three games for his team Fortune Barishal.In a conversation with Sports 24, the Fortune Barishal owner, Mizanur Rahman, said that Malik’s contract was “till February 14”, by when the team would have played nine of their 12 league games. “He left after the third game, and told me that he wants to come back on February 6. We have [next] three games in Sylhet, so I told him that it won’t work for us,” Mizanur said in that chat. “I think he went to meet his family in Dubai.”Mizanur, however, denied having said this to the channel. “We haven’t spoken to anyone in the media,” he said in a video message on the franchise’s Facebook page. “Shoaib Malik is a good player. He gave his 100% to our team. He tried his level best. We haven’t complained about him to anyone. Let us not talk about it and make it a big deal. We have lost two matches, so we should concentrate on the next matches.”
ESPNcricinfo has learned that Malik was unhappy batting down the order. He batted at No. 6 in his three outings and scored 7, 5* and 17*. He bowled one over in each of the first two games but didn’t get to bowl in the third.There was a storm around Malik on social media during the second game, against Khulna Tigers in Mirpur on January 22. Bowling the fourth over of the innings, he overstepped three times and leaked 18 runs as Fortune Barishal failed to defend 187.When asked by Sports 24 about unconfirmed reports that BCB’s anti-corruption unit was looking into Malik’s no-balls, Mizanur said, “They should [do it]. That would be good. An offspinner bowling three no-balls in an over is really absurd. That’s where we lost that match.”Malik is the only spinner to overstep three times in an over in men’s T20s (where data is available with ESPNcricinfo). Only Miguel Cummins bowled more front-foot no-balls in an over, when he overstepped five times in a CPL 2014 match.Ibrahim Zadran also left the Fortune Barishal squad on Thursday, but that’s because of his international commitments. Ahmed Shehzad and Akif Javed are expected to join the team on Friday.