BCB liable to inject spark in NCL!
Photo - BCB
|| CF Correspondent ||
The domestic circuit in Bangladesh always has its fair share of criticism for not being competent enough to provide the fuel for the national team. Players who score plethora of runs or emerge as potent wicket-takers in the domestic tournaments, often fail to prove their worth at the international levels, or even if they succeed in doing so, their grip on consistency looks to weaken over time.
This trend remains a perennial, raising the question of the value of the country’s first class cricket tournament. When it comes to selecting players for the national team, experienced domestic-level performers like Tushar Imran are ignored. And that certainly shows how much the concerned authorities value the domestic competitions.
Such ignorance irks the likes of Jahurul Islam who has a great influence in the domestic circuit. Instead of enjoying his team’s sixth National Cricket League (NCL) triumph, Jahurul voiced his concerns regarding the state of the competition, saying, these things will continue to be addressed until the authorities start paying heed to them.
“There is always a question with the performers, of what they are actually getting in return for their performance. Money is not a factor but factor is if the performance is getting proper value. Tushar is a burning example. Now if someone says the NCL does not have quality as a tournament then the blame does not go to the players but it goes to those who are behind the running and arranging of this tournament,” Jahurul said after Rajshahi Division’s NCL triumph.
Domestic leagues are often termed as picnic cricket because of the lack of competitiveness at the level. While tournaments like the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) provides the opportunity for players to hone their skills in limited-overs cricket, the first-class tournaments certainly remain under par and Bangladesh’s performance gap between white-ball cricket and red-ball cricket reflects that.
“The board has a big room to invest and better the quality of the tournament. I remember playing the [BPL] final match in Mirpur with a channel broadcasting the match Live. There is no question with the quality of the BPL. A performer there easily gets recognized and makes it to the national team. It is just that the BPL is highlighted and promoted well. It is more of the board’s responsibility to lift the NCL as a tournament. The effort the players make is from sheer self-motivation. The board’s job is to lift those performers in the NCL to a next level,” Jahurul said.
