BCB refused to increase contract despite assurance
Photo - Cricfrenzy
|| CF Correspondent ||
The Bangladesh Cricket Board refused to increase the number of contracted national players despite promising to do so last year after players called for strike placing 13-point demand.
Players urged BCB to include at least 30 players in the national contract and the authorities had also promised to consider the matter during their unprecedented strike in October.
Accordingly, the selectors had submitted a list of 24 cricketers in January for the approval to the board though it was not accepted indicating that they just wanted to give an eyewash by stating all the demands will be met.
Board but the BCB had sent back the list for some modification.
On Sunday, the BCB published the new list of contracted players, which included 16 cricketers and only seven of them of got a full-fledged contract for both red-ball and white-ball.
‘‘We don’t want to give anything to anyone for free. Players must work hard for their money,’’ BCB chief selector Minhajul was quoted in New Age on Tuesday.
Minhajul defended their decision to drop Rubel and ignore Soumya once again saying that the duo is not regular in any format now.
‘‘You see Soumya. He is not an automatic choice for any format, be it Test, one-day and Twenty20 international. The same thing is applicable for Rubel,’ said Minhajul.
Soumya played three Tests, 17 ODIs and seven Twenty20 internationals since January 1, 2019, averaging, 38.33, 29.76 and 14.16 respectively.
Rubel’s return is even poorer during the period -- six wickets in seven matches in all formats.
BCB cricket operations chief Akram Khan, however, said Soumya’s non-inclusion in the contract is a mistake, which they would correct soon.
‘Soumya was dropped from the list by mistake. We will soon include him after discussion,’ said Akram.
Soumya included or not, it would bring little change to the scenario as many other players like Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Hossain, who played at least some matches at different formats in recent times, would still remain out of the contract.
The BCB introduced separate red-ball and white-ball contract for the first time this year in order to be more accommodative but turned it rather to a punishing measure for some underperforming players.
Senior batsman Mahmudullah and pacer Mustafizur Rahman were left out of red-ball contract while pacer Rubel Hossain and Imrul Kayes were dropped from both red-ball and white-ball contracts.
Batsman Soumya Sarkar was not given any contract for the second successive year despite being a regular member of Bangladesh one-day and Twenty20 international in recent months.
Test opener Shadman Islam was also left out of the contract apparently for his wrist injury, which could delay his comeback.
There was no contractual boost for rookie opener Saif Hasan as well after he failed to impress in the two-Test matches that he played since making his debut against Pakistan.
The BCB also did not offer any contract to the young pacer, Hasan Mahmud and Yasir Ali, though they are with the national team in the last few series and can make their debut anytime.
The partial white-ball contract dealt Mahmudullah’s hope of reviving his Test career with a further blow after he lost his spot in the Test squad during the recent one-off Test series against Zimbabwe.
It also sent down a clear message to Mustafiz that he was no longer a part of BCB’s Test plan, though chief selector Minhajul Abedin refused to consider it this way
