Bangabandhu T20 Cup Is All Set To Take Place On November 12:
On Saturday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a player’s draught for the upcoming Bangabandhu T20 Cup, which will be played by the country’s five leading corporate houses, to begin on November 12.
Teams-Fortune Barishal, Beximco Dhaka, the Rajshahi Group of Ministers, Gemcon Khulna and the Chattogram Group of Gazi-will participate in the competition scheduled for the third week of November.
BCB previously announced that 113 cricketers would take part in the compulsory fitness test on 9 and 10 November, respectively, and that only those who receive the requisite 11 beep test points will be considered eligible for the competition.
In particular, the test was designed to determine the fitness levels of cricketers outside of the National Team, High Performance Team and Under 19 configurations.
Exemptions Likely For Shakib:
On Saturday after his arrival from the USA on November 5, Bangladesh’s all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan underwent a COVID-19 test to begin his cricket career after a one-year break, courtesy of the ICC for failing to disclose corrupt approaches.
Shakib is required to obtain the outcome as soon as it is one of the prerequisites for taking part in the compulsory fitness test as he has arrived from abroad.
“He had the corona test done. We expect to obtain his result soon and if it turns out negative, we will take part in the fitness test, “BCB chief physician Debashish Chowdhury told a leading sports website.
According to the Directives of the Directorate-General of Health Services, foreign travellers are subject to 14 days of home quarantine if they bear a negative COVID-19 certificate and if they do not carry a negative COVID-19 certificate, they are subject to our institutional quarantine.
Debashish added, however, that they had asked the health authorities to excuse Shakib from the quarantine if COVID-19 negative had been checked.
“We have sent DGHS a letter. He [Shakib] is going to board an aeroplane with a certificate of corona negative. He will again be checked in a DGHS certified laboratory upon arrival. If he tests negative again, he does not need quarantine before then. This is standard practice,’ he said.
When they arrived from their respective countries ahead of the Sri Lanka tour that was ultimately postponed, the BCB had taken a similar route to minimise the quarantine time of the international coaches.
Mortaza To Miss Out:
Though Shakib will be looking to make the upcoming T20 tournament a perfect forum to prepare him for international duty, it will be unfortunate for Mashrafe Mortaza to miss the chance.
“I spoke with Mashrafe and he can not give the test as he is not fit so we have not kept him in the list,” Minhajul confirmed adding that there is still a chance for him to appear in the competition as the board is contemplating the idea of retaining a provision that will allow the teams to pick him outside the draught in their squad, subject to his fitness.
On October 18, while running at the City Club in the capital, Mashrafe sustained a hamstring injury and a scan report of the injury has yet to be received by the board.
As he is staying at home with coronavirus patients as his daughter and son have been diagnosed with COVID-19, Mashrafe decided not to go out to do the scan.
In the Dhaka Premier League, the country’s traditional club-based 50-over tournament that was postponed following the outbreak of COVID-19, Mashrafe last played competitive cricket on March 16.
The second competition hosted by the BCB in the Covid setting will be the T20 tournament. Recently, a three-team 50-over competition was held, with cricketers and team management members put in a bio-bubble. In the meantime, the BCB is not persuaded of hosting the remaining portion of the Dhaka Premier League, which the majority of cricketers in Bangladesh consider to be a significant source of income.
After the end of the first round of the tournament, the DPL came to an abrupt stop in March. The players involved in it were hoping to restart cricket with some kind of roadmap and the upcoming domestic T20 tournament is a move taken by the BCB in that direction.
