The Bangladesh Cricket Board cricket operation chairman Akram Khan confirmed that seven of their national cricketers named for the Lanka Premier League T20 draft will not be available for the start of the event in Sri Lanka.
The second edition of LPL, scheduled from July 30 to August 22, will be clashing with Bangladesh’s five-match T20I series versus Australia starting in early August. Soon after facing the Aussies, Bangladesh will also host New Zealand and England for limited-overs assignments ahead of the T20 World Cup in UAE in October-November.
With back to back international assignments being their priority, the BCB official told Cricbuzz that the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, who are among those registered for LPL-2, won’t be able to take part in the tournament, at least not from its beginning.
Akram, however, did say if the schedule and quarantine regulations allow those players to feature in the LPL post the Australian series and before the New Zealand visit, they can take part in it.
“They (Bangladeshi cricketers) will not be available from the beginning of LPL as we have series against Australia. We also have other series lined up but in between, we have some time and they can go at that point and play in the LPL,”
Cricbuzz quoted him as saying.
Reiterating BCB’s stance on the matter, Akram cited the annual contracts that the players had signed, making it mandatory for them to prioritise national duty. The BCB had brought a new clause in the contracts, keeping in mind instances of players skipping international assignments to take part in leagues around the world. Shakib, notably, had opted out of Tests versus Sri Lanka in April-May to make himself fully available for IPL 2021.
”All the cricketers are ready to take part across format and they have informed national duty is their first preference. They have said that if they are picked and if they can manage to have time to play in LPL they will play there but not at the expense of skipping any national duty.”
‘ said Akram.
For the coming year, Cricbuzz reported, the BCB has already sent a separate letter to national contract probables to gauge their availability in 2021-22. No names have been disclosed yet, but around 22 cricketers received the letter, 18 of whom will be centrally contracted.
