EXCLUSIVE
Follow UsThe 2024 edition of the Global T20 League in Canada (GT20) was completed on August 11 (Sunday), with Toronto Nationals being crowned champions, but the competition was overshadowed by a major controversy that unfolded on the day of the playoffs.
On August 10 (Saturday), Bangla Tigers Mississauga, led by Shakib Al Hasan, were thrown out of the competition for allegedly ‘refusing’ to play a super over with the Toronto Nationals side to decide the winner of the Eliminator clash.
The initial story that did the rounds claimed that Bangla Tigers downright refused to play the super over as they wanted the contest to be a washout since abandonment would have meant them automatically progressing to the next round by virtue of them finishing higher on the points table.
Several reports claimed that the Tigers were disqualified because their skipper Shakib refused to show up to the toss in protest, due to which the officials awarded the contest to the Toronto Nationals.
But is that the true story? ‘Absolutely NOT’ according to Bangla Tigers owner and CEO Zaffir Yasin, who, in an exclusive chat with Cricket.com, has come out and shared his side of the story.
Below is the full breakdown of the shambolic two-day saga that led to the Tigers’ elimination.
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Incessant rain, conditions unfit to play
Torrential rains wreaked havoc on the latter stages of GT20 Canada 2024, with all three games that preceded the Eliminator between Bangla Tigers and Toronto Nationals — two group games and one playoff — getting fully abandoned. This included the Qualifier 1, which was scheduled on the same day as the Eliminator but got wiped out without a single ball being bowled.
According to Yasin, it rained the heaviest on the day of the playoffs.
“First things first, the conditions were not fit to play. That was loud and clear,” Yasin says.
“In the whole tournament, when other captains [Chris Lynn, Usman Khawaja, Colin Munro and Marcus Stoinis] complained that the field conditions were not fit to play, the tournament committee, the technical committee accepted and the match referee all accepted that. And they were right.
“And on the day we had our Eliminator match against Toronto Nationals, it rained the heaviest; far more than any other day in the competition. So the conditions weren’t fit to play.”
According to the Bangla Tigers owner, the skipper of the Toronto Nationals, Colin Munro, also admitted that the conditions were unfit for cricket.
“Even Colin Munro, the skipper of the other team, agreed that the conditions were not fit to play. But obviously, Munro had no option. If the match got abandoned, his team [Toronto Nationals ] would go out. So Munro was ready to play even though the conditions were unfit,” Yasin adds.
Altering ground dimensions and shortening boundaries to ‘eliminate’ puddles
The officials and the organizers are said to have agreed to alter the ground dimensions by pulling the boundary ropes considerably forward, in order to get the puddles in the ground out of the playing area.
It was supposedly a move done to ‘protect’ the players, but Yasin’s point of view is simple: if you’re having to ‘eliminate’ puddles by messing with the boundary ropes, the ground is already not safe enough to host a cricket match.
“Obviously, the conditions were not fit to play. If the conditions were fit to play, why would you reduce the size of the boundary?” Yasin says.
“Plus, there were other issues. The officials altered the size of the boundary after the official start time of the match. And additionally, they were decreasing the boundary size without an official measurement. They did it by themselves; they had no idea what they were doing. The ground took up a zig-zag structure on one side.”
Playing conditions modified mid-tournament; Franchises alerted on WhatsApp a day before the playoffs
According to Yasin, the tournament's playing conditions did not include the ‘super over in case of rain’ rule at the beginning of the competition. However, the franchises were informed via WhatsApp a day before the playoffs that the aforementioned rule would be added.
“In the team manager’s meeting, on the very first day, they shared some rules and regulations which were set by GT20. In that playing conditions, they clearly mentioned that the GT20 will be following T20 International conditions. As per T20I conditions, there should at least be a five-over game; otherwise the game gets abandoned,” Yasin reveals.
“But one day before the match, and also on the day of the game, they shared a message on Whatsapp saying that a super over will be played in case a 5-over game isn’t possible. Have you ever seen a situation where a match is decided by a super over because it’s raining heavily?
“This rule was made one day before on WhatsApp. That’s a significant change in the playing conditions which should have been discussed with the Technical Committee, The Owners and Cricket Canada because this is a whole different rule altogether.
“Why was the rule not imposed before the start of the tournament? You just can’t impose a rule in the middle of the tournament. That doesn’t make sense.”
So, was WhatsApp always the official mode of communication?
“All the communication happened through WhatsApp, yes. But when we once raised a complaint regarding the tournament on that very Whatsapp group, we were told that the complaint was not official, and we had to email the committee.
“So, in that case, is it not hypocritical that you’re making a significant change to the playing conditions and you’re communicating it via WhatsApp? And that too a day before the match?”
GT20 used covers worth $20,000 that were given to them by Bangla Tigers’ opponents
Yasin reveals that, in what he feels is morally ‘very debatable’, the league, just a day before the playoffs, were provided with covers worth $20,000 by the Toronto side.
“One day before the match, the other owner bought covers worth $20,000 and he had some people in the field making sure everything was right. The thing is, all these factors influenced the decision that came through.”
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We now get to the spicy part. What actually happened on the day of the game?
Shakib reasoned with the umpires, explained them they were putting the players under serious risk
Contrary to reports, Yasin categorically denies that Shakib refused to walk out to the toss. According to the Bangla Tigers owner, Shakib reasoned with the umpires and made it clear that the officials were putting the players at grave risk by asking them to play any game, even if it was a one-over contest, in the conditions that were in front of them.
“On the match day, when the two captains were called for the toss, Shakib [Al Hasan] went to the umpire’s office. Shakib asked the umpires why a 5-over match can’t be done because that’s what the ICC rulebook says. This is when the umpires responded saying that a 5-over match can’t be done because it’s risky but a 1-over match can be done because it carries much less risk,” Yasin reveals.
“Shakib responded after this saying that if the conditions are dangerous for a 5-over game, then they are definitely dangerous for a 1-over game as well.
“There are some reports claiming that we refused to play the match. The first thing is, we know for a fact that if we refuse to play the match, we are gone; knocked out. So are we fools to refuse to play the match? Why would you refuse to play the match?"
Bangla Tigers requested to play the match the next day
Yasin reveals that sometime after the toss controversy, all parties involved had a meeting, where Bangla Tigers requested the match to be played the next day.
“We had a meeting with everyone involved — the GT20 owner, CEO, the other team’s owner — and we clearly mentioned that our priority is to play a 20-over match. If not today, then on the next day. We made it clear that we had no problem playing back-to-back matches on the same day, if necessary.
“We mentioned to the GT20 owner clearly that since there was a reserve day for the final, an extra day was available and so the competition could be extended. So we requested to play a match on the next day.
“We told them that the 1-over match does not go with the ICC conditions, so let’s do a 5-over match tomorrow or a 20-over match, whichever is fine with you. We clearly mentioned it to them. But they forced us to play a 1-over match.”
Toronto Nationals agreed to play a 10-over match the next morning
Yasin says that after several minutes of discussion among the owners, Toronto Nationals owner Luqman Ahmed agreed to play a shortened match the next morning.
“We had an owner’s meeting, and in that meeting, Toronto Nationals owner Luqman Ahmed agreed to play a shortened match the next day. Cricket Canada came to us and assured us that a 10-over game will be done the next day,” Yasin reveals.
“Since everything was agreed upon, we were confident that we were playing a match the next day.”
The Toronto Nationals u-turn
“But the next day, when we were all set to play a 10-over match, Luqman did a u-turn and said that Toronto do not consent to a rematch,” Yasin reveals.
Yasin confirms that the reports that the Bangla Tigers players reached the ground the next morning are true. He says that the players were sent to the ground because the franchise was 100% sure that a match was going to be played, as agreed upon the night before.
“If we were not sure of the game being played, why would we send our players to the ground?” Yasin adds.
Winner of the Eliminator contest decided 15 hours later
The Bangla Tigers got to know that they were being disqualified only after they reached the ground. They were communicated the same by the officials.
“When the players reached the ground, we came to know that the match would not take place. It was informed by the Match Referee and then we got an email around 11.00 AM (August 10) that Toronto had been awarded the game,” Yasin reveals.
For nearly 15 hours, the players, fans, and officials had no idea who would progress. Indeed, GT20 Canada’s official X account went quiet for 15 hours before abruptly congratulating the Toronto Nationals for progressing without any explanation.
According to Yasin, even the opposition players couldn’t help but laugh at the incompetence of the tournament committee.
“I spoke to a lot of senior players from the other teams and they were laughing at the tournament committee. They admitted that it made no sense for Toronto to go through.”
Cricket.com can finally also confirm that the fiasco has led to The Bangla Tigers demanding financial compensation from GT20.
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