Pace-heavy East Zone up against experienced North Zone in BCL
||Desk Report||
The opening day of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) will see East Zone and North Zone locking horns at Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi on November 21.
The first-class competition is starting within few days after the end of another red-ball tournament, the National Cricket League, in a bid to provide enough game time for the cricketers so that they are not in short supply for the national setup when required, with the global showcase event, ICC World Cup, approaching fast.
North Zone formed a team with an experience-packed lineup by retaining Jahurul Islam, Junaid Siddique, Naeem Islam, Farhad Hossain, Mizanur Rahman, Subhasish Roy. They later drafted the likes of Sabbir Rahman, Sohag Gazi, and Ariful Haque while also recruiting three of the most promising youngsters in the country’s cricketing fraternity – Shoriful Islam, Towhid Hridoy, and Mohor Sheikh.
East Zone relied on a pace-heavy group in the retention window as they retained the national pacer Khaled Ahmed, Abu Jayed, and Mohammad Saifuddin while also keeping Mominul Haque, Zakir Hasan, and Afif Hossain in the squad before the draft.
East Zone opted for the likes of Imrul Kayes, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan to build a squad capable of giving tough competition to all other teams in the tournament.
The other five round of the tournament will start on November 28, December 5, 11, 17, and 24, respectively.
Some tough games are lined up in the country in the next few weeks as all players have gotten into the rhythm, playing regular games over the last few months both at national and international levels.
Although the teams will not get the services of most of the national cricketers as Bangladesh’s full-fledged series will coincide with the BCL, all teams have built the squad keeping that in mind and will surely exhibit their quality accordingly.
