Shakib Al Hasan not in favour of the BCB's rules for BPL

After Bangladesh's loss against Afghanistan in the one-off test, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has implemented a new rule under which it is mandatory for every Bangladesh Premier League team to include a legspinner and an overseas pacer who bowls over 140 kmph in every game in the tournament.

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The Board even suspended two head coaches for not following orders of including wrist spinners in the starting XI in the National Cricket League. However, Bangladesh Test captain, Shakib Al Hasan is unhappy about these new rules and has called out the management for using the T20 tournament for wrong purposes.

Shakib's statement:

Shakib said to a leading Bengali daily that for so many years they could not select a legspinner for the senior team but suddenly planned to include seven legspinners in the BPL. This decision came as a surprise to him as the BPL is an international-standard competitive tournament where teams face scenarios that are likely to be faced in international cricket. The dressing room is shared with overseas cricketers and it is not the place for experiments like these.

The two new rules about wrist spinners and bowlers over 140 kmph were introduced to help solve the problems of the national team but Shakib believes important things like facilities and remuneration should be prioritized first.

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The focus should be on improving indoor facilities:

He said that the job of the BCB should not only be to focus on the national team as places like Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet do not have a proper gym, running and indoor facilities. He lamented that one could not bat for more than 15 minutes in the Mirpur indoor facilities, because it gets too hot and air conditioning was not installed even after being requested for ten years. He was disappointed with the facilities in Bangladesh as compared to the indoors facilities he saw in other countries where they had clear lighting and ACs.

The Bangladesh Test skipper also pointed out that the first-class match fee was unacceptable as it was a very small amount for a cricketer to maintain the minimum standard of living in Bangladesh. He mentioned that government officers get increments every year, but for them, it is the same every time. He said he always gets a feeling that cricketers in his country are being suppressed which was not right. He felt that everyone should have an equal opportunity and a player should be left to earn what he feels he deserves.

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Bangladesh’s next task will be against India when they take on India in T20Is and two Test matches away from home.

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