||CF Correspondent||

Former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful comes under the national selectors’ radar as he has been called to join an intra-squad four-day match comprising the Bangladesh A and HP unit cricketers along with the national-team discards.

The four-day match is scheduled to be played at Khulna from September 19 between the two teams named Bangladesh Green and Bangladesh Red.

The opportunity is certainly a welcome relief for Ashraful as he managed to catch the eye of selectors. His international ban also ended on August 13 this year, which he had received because of match-fixing allegations.

“Basically I am not thinking of national team as there is nothing like doing well here [in the intra-squad contest] will open up the door of national team for me,” said Ashraful.

“I just wanted to concentrate on playing well here because before the National Cricket League it is an opportunity for me to get prepared for the first-class competition,” he added.

Ashraful was initially slapped with an eight-year ban by a special anti-corruption tribunal set up by the board in July 2014. A one-member appeal panel had then reduced his ban to five years, with the last two years to be reprieved upon producing a certificate of good conduct from the ICC through participation in the 'anti-corruption education and training program.

Bangladesh Cricket Board had then stated that Ashraful was allowed to take part in domestic cricket since his three-year suspension from all forms of competitive cricket was lifted in 2016. However, the five-year suspension ban remained on his participation in franchise-based tournaments.