'Restrictions needed on cricketers playing football'

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhajul Abedin has chimed in on the issue of cricketers suffering injuries while playing football, saying that something will have to be done about it.

"There will have to be a restriction on this, because maximum players are injured while playing soccer," said Minhajul to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur earlier today. "It's something the team management will have to look into."

In the past two weeks, Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasir Hossain have sustained injuries while playing football. Mushfiqur sprained his ankle while playing a warm-up game of football on the last day of the Bangladesh Cricket League fourth-round game in Bogura, while Nasir is out for six months with torn knee ligaments sustained during a game of football after attending a friend's wedding in Sirajganj.   

BCB chief physician Debashish Chowdhury also warned last week that the players play the warm-up games of football with too much intensity and that it is perhaps better to warm up by playing tennis or badminton.

Minhajul also announced that they are merging the training camps for the HP and A team set to start on May 23. 

"We are merging the HP with the A team. We will choose a 20-22 member squad for the HP, and add a few A team players to that. 

The HP programme will start from the 23rd of next month, and we will start the A team work with that as well."

The next A team assignment is a home series against Sri Lanka A, and Minhajul said that there will be a mixture of experience and youth.

"Of course, we will take those who are playing well in domestic cricket. But we look at two criteria when forming the A team -- immediate replacements for the national team and those who can represent the national team in the next one or two years," he said. "It will be a combination of seniors and juniors. I can't say the names. Let us ready the team first, we will sit and decide after the BCL who will go to HP and who will go to A team. Two weeks later there is a national training camp, and we will have to choose a preliminary squad for that as well. We can give the details next week."

South Zone batsman Tushar Imran, the sole Bangladeshi to score 10,000 first-class runs, has been on a tear recently with three centuries on the trot in the BCL. Having played for Bangladesh between 2001 and 2007, it was naturally asked whether there was an opportunity for the 34-year-old to make a comeback. The chief selector, however, was noncommital on the issue. 

"Those who have performed well so far, they have not been deprived. And with certain players, you also have to take into consideration how capable they are in the international arena, and how capable they are technically to defend in the international arena. Playing well on home soil is one thing, and playing abroad is another."

When reminded that the A team has a home assignment, he said: "Since the A team match is on home soil, we will think about it and let you know next week. Of course, there is no compromise on performance. But you also have to see the ability at international level."

Minhajul also informed that the national cricketers are supposed to report within May 13 for the camp, and that the cricket operations committee will determine exactly when it will start.