Tamim to miss third round of BCL
Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal will miss the third round of the Bangladesh Cricket League, slated to begin on November 20th.
The one-day version of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) was set to begin on November 26th but was rescheduled to November 20 to ensure that players from Bangladesh A are available. The next two rounds are scheduled for November 22 and 24 before the final on November 27. Tamim, who is going to attend the FIFA World Cup match between Brazil and Serbia on November 24th, will miss the third round's match for East Zone, a team official confirmed yesterday.
A majority of the national team's players will play the BCL one-day version to gear up for the ODI series against India, slated to begin from December 4. The BCB is reconsidering whether to play the longer-version of the BCL between December 5-30 as had been earlier informed since it may clash with the national team's preparation camp for the India ODIs.
Shakib Al Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Nurul Hasan Sohan had been handed NOCs to appear in the Dubai T10 league and will miss the BCL one-day version. Sabbir Rahman was one of the players missing in the players' draft announced yesterday while pacers Khaled Ahmed and Abu Jayed were also absent. But the latter two are expected to feature for Bangladesh's A team against India A.
"We rescheduled the BCL (one-dayers) as the national team has an ODI assignment. If they can play the BCL before that, it will be advantageous. We have two windows for the longer version of the BCL in December and February and we will look to hold the tournament in December. If that's not possible, we will hold it in February," BCB tournament committee chairman Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby told reporters yesterday.
Walton Group had been part of BCL since its inception but they will not participate in the tournament, leaving Islami Bank East Zone as the only franchise-owned team in the tournament. The three remaining teams will be run by the BCB.
"It is a little unfortunate. The thing is that the whole world is recovering from a crisis and Walton let us know that they are going through financial constraints. When they overcome it, they will come again," Ahmed added.
Head coach Russell Domingo, who arrived in the country on Monday, oversaw Tamim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Saifuddin's individual sessions yesterday at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium in his first day back on the field.