|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladeshi women’s cricket future looks to be going backward as they raised apprehension after Bangladesh Cricket Board failed to organize Dhaka Premier League on time that is providing bread and butter to majority of cricketer.

Dhaka Premier was expected to start from January 15 but was shelved in the last minute and BCB is yet to announce any specific deadline regarding the tournament apart from eyeing to launch it somewhere is March.

Their anxiety were doubled when the National Cricket League, scheduled from February 12 received a blow as it also got delayed as well and on both occasions BCB citied unavailability of grounds as the major reason behind it.

Though both the tournaments are expected to be hosted in the upcoming months instead of January and February respectively it surely did not go well with the women cricketers as they are quite baffled by themselves with the present state of matter.

"After arriving from the World Cup we learnt that the Premier League will be played from January 15 but unfortunately that did not took place on time. We were told that due to scarcity of grounds it had to be shifted,’’ Bangladesh T20 skipper Salma Khatun told Cricfrenzy on a dejected tone after a two-day match at the academy premises.

"It is very unfortunate as we practice round the year just to play in the league. As the Premier League did not take place on time it was announced that NCL will start from February 12 but unfortunately even that did not happen. We were supposed to go to Cox’s Bazar on 9 th but on the previous night we were informed that it will have been delayed and now probably it will be played from February 24 or 25,’’ she said.

"It is a big blow for us because we most of us run our family through it and when there is any kind of uncertainty it will certainly raise your concern,’’ she said adding that if these tournaments are disrupted it will have a huge impact on the overall future of women cricket.

"We need to play these tournaments because this is the only platform where someone can make her presence felt and get her noticed by the national selection panel and make a way into the national team,’’ she said.

"Every cricketers are not included under the pay scale so naturally others rely on these tournaments that not only provide them with financial solvency but also an opportunity to make an attempt of getting into the national dressing room.’’ She said.

Since some of the cricketers reached Dhaka for joining the NCL only to be informed later that NCL won’t happen as per schedule it opened an opportunity for them to use the academy premises that largely is being dominated by their male counterpart.

As a result an unexpected two-day game took place in the academy premises respectively on February 12 and 13 but the way it was managed only provide a clear indication on where they stand as far as BCB is concerned.

Since their disappointing performance in World Cup suddenly things changed from bad to worse and it reached to such an extent that national women cricketers had to buy their own lunch while playing a two-day match at the BCB academy premises.

BCB is just providing us ground, stump and ball and since we are arranging the match all by ourselves we are buying our own lunch,’’ said Salma adding they are not disappointed with it. "It was quite fun and it is not a big deal that we had to buy our own lunch,’’ she said though failing to hide her disappointment for receiving such a treatment.