Senior team players excluded from national cricket squad

Senior national team players have been excluded from the national cricket squad, ahead of the South Asian Games.

RaajjeMV understands that the players were excluded from the squad for raising concern against Asif Khan, the national team’s coach who is accused of sexual harassing minors.

There are only under 21 team players in the squad.

While senior team -consisting of 14 players- has been excluded from the squad, they were training for this year’s South Asian Games and were to head to Chennai, India for a training camp next month.

A new squad could be announced for the South Asian Games, however, it is unlikely that those that are not given the opportunity to train in Chennai will be included.

The dates for the South Asian Games are yet to be confirmed.

While there are also reports that the senior team players have been suspended, Cricket Board President Mohamed Aflaah said that he was not aware of this.

He added that players are chosen for the national by a committee.

While the senior team has been penalized, they won second place in the Malaysian T20 Tri-Nation Series in July.

The sexual abuse case against Asif Khan was reported early this month, and the sports ministry said that the police are investigating the case as it is a criminal offence.

The ministry also said that it will fully cooperate with the police in the investigation.

There are reports that the Cricket Board had attempted to hide the matter before the news broke out, by sending him off. However, the 46-year-old was detained at Velana International Airport.

However, he was released as the police failed to present him for remand hearing within the required 24 hours.