The Abahani captain, who left the crease and walked to the boundary line after a hiccup with Sri Lankan umpire Philip Mendis only to ignite a brawl at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Friday, survived more severe punishment as the 'spineless' CCDM once again followed the chronic precedence of buckling under pressure from vested quarters.

Tanveer Haider, the chairman of the CCDM, said that they have refrained from taking any harsher measures against Akram following written assurance from Abahani. Besides, Taveer claimed that the umpires report was not strong enough to suspend Akram.

The umpires were more vocal against the three Abahani officials -Arshad Khan Tara, assistant cricket-manager Shibli Nomani and Shah Alam Chowdhury. The thug-trio swooped on the men in uniform while they were returning to the dressing room for the tea-break. CCDM declared the three Abahani officials persona-non-grata for the league for one month.

Akram's great escape makes Houdini look small. The CCDM inaction was victory for petty club interests against established norms and rules. Going by press reports and thousands of witnesses at the Bangabandhu, Akram should have been penalised with match suspension, even if only to make it an example for the future.

Similar weak decisions in the past have only sacrificed cricket to the hoodlums.