By IANS,
Dhaka : Former skipper Habibul Bashar has protested Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) decision to ban him and 12 other fellow players for 10 years for joining the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Bashar, who will be leading the newly-formed Dhaka Warriors team, said: “I did not really expect it. I thought the board would ban us for the period we will be playing in ICL. But now what happened, it has been very harsh for us.”
“The ICL was never a banned tournament. It just did not get the sanction from the BCCI. But that doesn’t mean the players who will play in it have to banned. It is injustice,” he told New Age newspaper after his return from New Delhi where he signed the ICL contract.
The 13 cricketers reportedly signed for an amount of $200,000 for a period of three years.
“One can expect a ban of this extent for a player who is linked to match-fixing or something like that. But we did noting like that. We did not do any crime and joined the ICL to play cricket,” said Bashar, the most successful Bangladesh captain with one Test and 29 ODI victories.
Bashar cited the example of Irish cricketer Nial O’Brien, who played in the first edition of the ICL, but did not continue further.
The ICC not only allowed him to play for the national team after severing ties with the ICL, but also nominated him for the ICC’s Associate Player of the Year award this year.
“If O’Brien can resume his international career after playing in the ICL, why will we not be allowed to do the same?” argued Bashar, adding that the ICL would never restrain them from playing for the national team.
“We were promised by the ICL authorities that they would never stand in our way if we get a call in the national team. So we expected a more sensible decision from the BCB.”
Asked how they will continue practice in the off-season because the BCB decided not to allow them to use its facilities, Bashar said they would leave the issue to the ICL authorities.
“The ICL has roped us in and we hope they will look after it,” he said.
Along with Bashar, three other cricketers – Shahriar Nafees, Alok Kapali and Dhiman Ghosh – were present at the launch of the team at a five-star city hotel in India.
The other nine cricketers are Aftab Ahmed, Farhad Raza, Manjural Islam, Mabud Chowdhury, Mohammad Rafique, Mahubul Karim, Mohammed Sharif, Mosharraf Hossain and Tapash Baisya.