DHAKA: The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday banned former national teamfast bowler Shahadat Hossain for five years, two of them suspended, afterhe assaulted a teammate in a match.

The temperamental Shahadat was reported by umpires after he was seen toslap and kick a teammate during a National Cricket League match on Sunday.

The national federation suspended two years of the ban but Shahadat, whoadmitted a charge of “physical assault”, was also fined 300,000 taka($3,540), the board said.

Shahadat, 33, attacked young bowler Arafat Sunny Jr during a game betweenDhaka and Khulna after an argument over how to shine the ball, a boardofficial said.

“Considering his past behaviour we decided to punish him for five years.The last two years of his ban will remain suspended,” said BCB technicalcommittee chief Minhajul Abedin.

Shahadat could have been banned for life.

Shahadat, who played 38 Tests and 51 one-day internationals for Bangladesh,spent nearly two months in detention in 2015 after he and his wife wereaccused of torturing an 11-year-old girl they employed as a maid. They werecleared when it came to trial however.

Shahadat hit the headlines again in 2018 when he allegedly beat a rickshawdriver for hitting his car in Dhaka. – APP / AFP