The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Contracted players pledge commitment to Bangladesh team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Contracted players pledge commitment to Bangladesh team

Dhaka: In the doldrums after six National team members announced hasty retirements to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL), the beleaguered Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has managed assurances from other contracted players that they would not fall for the lure of easy money.

National team players, Shakib Al Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Mehrab Hossain, Abdur Razzak, Mushfiqur Rahim, Syed Rasel, Mahmudullah Riyad and Zunaed Siddiqui met BCB officials at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur to assure the Board that they won’t turn ‘rebels.’

“We feel proud to represent the national team,” was the refrain.

Meanwhile, BCB’s effort to draw the ICL-bound players to the discussion table to stop the exodus looks an exercise in futility. Of the rebels, former skipper Habibul Bashar and wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh have already left for India, while Shahriar Nafees is unhappy after he got an SMS to join the meeting.

“SMS is not a proper way to communicate with somebody. Any Board official is yet to give me a call and only a Board employee rang me yesterday. I will only think about attending the meeting if the invitation comes in a proper way,” Nafees was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

As other contracted players met the BCB top brass, Tamim Iqbal’s absence in Monday’s meeting spread panic, with many claiming that the dashing batsman already has an ICL contract. Senior BCB official, Gazi Ashraf Hossain, however, said the left-hander was away on a holiday. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport