At least 14 Bangladesh players, including former captain Habibul Bashar, are set to join the rebel Indian Cricket League according to a media report.
Bangladesh players reportedly set to join rebel league
At least 14 Bangladesh players, including former captain Habibul Bashar, are set to join the rebel Indian Cricket League according to a media report, while six have officially handed in their resignation.
Dhaka based national daily
Prothom Alo identified the players involved while Bashar, the country's leading Test run-scorer and most successful captain, confirmed he had been in talks with the ICL.
"I can say only about myself that I have got the proposal from the ICL and am talking with them," he told
Reuters. "But nothing has yet been finalised."
Meanwhile, Gazi Ashraf Hossain, chairman of the board's cricket operations committee, confirmed that six players - Bashar, Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh and Mosharraf Hossain - had applied for 'retirement' and had been summoned to explain their decision in a meeting on Tuesday.
Former captain and chief selector Faruq Ahmed feared the development would damage the Bangladesh team and threaten its Test status, which was acquired only eight years ago.
"These are the top Bangladesh players. Their joining ICL will weaken the national team, which has already had very bad performance in the last six months," Ahmed said.
"I think this is the biggest crisis for Bangladesh cricket since it won Test status."
Players participating in the league, which runs parallel to the Indian Premier League but, unlike the IPL, is not sanctioned by the ICC or the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
