Habibul Bashar, Bangladesh national selector, and former captain, on Sunday (October 6), announced that the Tigers will participate in the National Cricket League before heading India for three T20 Internationals and two Test matches next month.
He also made it clear that the players who are in contention for India tour in November must participate in the tournament in order to remain eligible for the national selection.
It is being said that the senior stars like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mahmudullah Riyadh will be also seen in action in the NCL after a gap of four years.
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As per reports in Cricbuzz, Bashar stated: “Without any valid reason, no one will be allowed to skip NCL. Suppose, someone has hamstring injury or broke a finger, then it is something for consideration but without these reasons, we will not entertain other explanations as everyone will have to play the NCL.”
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has taken the decision in the wake of their home defeat in the one-off Test against Afghanistan. Bashar further explained, “They (national cricketers) need to make the best use of NCL as it will provide them with an opportunity to spend some time in the middle and they must make that into a habit, as we have seen some of our leading batsmen were unable to do it against Afghanistan.”
Meanwhile, BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan revealed that their bowling consultant Daniel Vettori will be available for 11 days with the national team.
He added, “We will start our preparation camp for the upcoming India series from 25 October and he (Vettori) will be available from the start of the camp as he is coming before that.”
The BCB official also confirmed that Bangladesh’ limited-overs’ batting consultant Neil McKenzie will be guiding the Tigers in the opening Test against India in Indore.
He signed off by saying, “McKenzie will come and he will stay during the first Test against India. We are trying to have him both with red and white ball game because it will be good for our team.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
