Dhaka Retired League!

Former national opener Mehrab Hossain (L) yesterday made a surprise return to Dhaka cricket after apparently quitting three years ago. Photo: STAR

BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon loves to talk about the technical aspects of cricket. In fact in his last few press meets he even provided the media with hints about the upcoming players in the national line-up.

The one thing that he frequently highlights is the 'big number of players in the pipeline' who are apparently inches away from making the national team.

However, the comebacks made by former national players in the Dhaka Premier League this year paint a different picture. The other day coach Khaled Mashud played for Kalabagan. And yesterday, former national opener Mehrab Hossain took the field after three years for Mohammedan. The reasons stated by the players for their returns provide a bleak outlook of Bangladesh's cricket.

Mashud had earlier told reporters that he returned to the game as a result of the 'shortage of quality players' in his side. Mehrab had a similar statement.

"The team does not have a back-up opener and since their current openers are not performing the team management requested to me to play and I agreed. I can't say anything more," Mehrab told The Daily Star yesterday.

The league is the lone 50-over domestic competition in the country. In the face of Bangladesh's international engagements, the once gorgeous tournament may have lost its zeal, but the importance of the league still prevails. It is a league that witnesses the country's top twelve clubs compete and when a club belongs to that stature they ideally should not be struggling to allure eleven quality players to play a match.

The question however remains as to whether the quality of the players has also declined along with the waning interest from the fans.

The quality of players is bound to suffer when the supply line is not properly nursed. We are, as it is, yet to get rid of the culture of hastily arranging competitions just for the sake of making the numbers. Nobody knows for how long the cries for good wickets and facilities in the domestic level will continue.

While this issue has perhaps gone unnoticed in the fervour of Bangladesh's recent run of wins, it is bound to crop up in the future, maybe only for the sake of discussions, when the Tigers go through a slide.