Mustafa, Shahzad, Raza fined by ECB

dubai — The use of social media has been a blessing as well as a curse in equal measure and many athletes have found themselves in trouble. And three UAE cricketers have found themselves on the wrong side of it for their transgressions during the Asian Cricket Council’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup earlier this month.

UAE cricket captain Rohan Mustafa, middle-order batsman Ahmed Shahzad and left-arm spinner Ahmed Raza landed themselves in hot water following their outbursts on twitter with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) imposing bans, fines as well as warnings.

The ECB concluded that three players Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza and Rameez Shahzad, had violated its Code of Conduct and requirements for the use of Social Media. As a result, each of the players have been suspended from International Cricket for a period of eight weeks, fined and warned about their future conduct,” the ECB said in a statement on Wednesday.

The trio had taken to twitter to criticise the ground facilities in Karachi, where the Group B matches of the tournament were being held. Rain had robbed the UAE the chance of a semifinal berth after their match against Hong Kong was abandoned.

Hong Kong were precariously placed at 87 for four in 31 overs when rain had interrupted play for half an hour at the Southend Stadium. But the lack of adequate covers to protect the pitch meant that the rain water slipped through and the game was abandoned. The one point meant Bangladesh qualified for the last four after defeating Pakistan.

The three were harsh in their criticism and although they later deleted the tweets and Mustafa tendered an apology on the platform by saying: “As captain of @ EmiratesCricket I would like to apologise to everyone in Pakistan for our frustrated tweets after yesterday’s match. @TheRealPCB and @ACCMedia1 have gone above and beyond to make our visit to Pakistan a very special one. I look forward to visiting again soon,” the infringement didn’t go well with the ECB.