||CF Correspondent||

Beleaguered former national skipper Mohammad Ashraful took a swipe at chief selector Minhajul Abedin for not providing him with enough opportunity in the just concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), country’s lone franchise based Twennty20 tournament.

Ashraful, who returns to the BPL fold after serving a five-year ban for match-fixing in the second edition of the tournament, was hoping to give his best for his franchise Chittagong Vikings as the franchise decided to rope him despite there were no takers for Ashraful in the draft of the Bangladesh Cricket League, the franchise-based first-class tournament, as well as the Afghanistan Premier League.

It looked to be a new dawn for the youngest Test centurion of the country as he believed that BPL platform would help him to show that he is not finished yet. However, his aspiration to make him count again was short lived after he was given a reality check in the tournament as his participation was limited to only three games where he managed to score 3, 22 and 0.

According to closely associated with the franchise, Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin was largely responsible for it as he was the one who had played a big part in the formation of the squad to selecting the playing Xi of Vikings.

“BPL was not a good tournament for me,’’ Ashraful told reporters at academy premises on Saturday. “I was dropped after the second match in spite of scoring 22 runs which was disappointing for me. I would have done better if I get more chances in BPL,’’ he said.

Ashraful is looking forward to leaving behind the disappointment of BPL by contributing for Mohammedan Sporting Club in the upcoming edition of Dhaka Premier League, country’s traditional Dhaka club based 50-over cricket tournament.

Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis decided to launch DPL T20 ahead of the one-day tournaments from this season and Ashraful is looking forward to making it up over there that he failed to do so in the BPL.

“It is great to have a T20 tournament before the 50-overs format. It is required to play a few matches to set-up a good combination. The main league will start from March 8. We have got a chance to play a few matches before that which is really a good chance for all of the teams,’’ said Ashraful.

The right-handed batsman added that he does not believe he batted slowly in the last edition of Dhaka Premier League (DPL) as many believed was the major reason behind the five centuries that he scored as despite his effort Kalabagan Krira Chakra was demoted in the from the DPL.