If Pakistan can have an ICL team of its own, why not Bangladesh? That seems t be the logic even though it means that that proposition would in all probably leave Bangladesh cricket derailed. But it could also help push the ICL further on the agenda towards legalizing it by the ICC.
Logic of money can be a very tricky situation. When Bangladesh announced themselves to the cricket world, it was with a fair amount of fancy and the urgency to push them into Test cricket was almost inevitable. However, the ICC now has a battle on its hands and perhaps the only way that the ICC can now preserve Bangladesh’s slim cricket reserves would be to give the ICL what it has been yearning for since its inception – recognition as an entity by the ICC.
Bangladesh cricket has been rocked in the last couple of days over speculation that the team would be found severely deficient in future tournaments with the ICL slated to sign as many as ten other Bangladesh players. The idea behind this move was to build a team parallel to the Lahore Badshahs that came into being within the ICL structure once a sizable proportion of Pakistan players signed the deal with the Indian Cricket League.
The problem for the Bangladesh cricketers were two fold. While money was the overriding factor, Bangladesh have reached a threshold beyond which they have not been able to elevate themselves. In the absence of Zimbabwe and trying to survive just below the dismal power that is the West Indies, Bangladesh were not expected to transform into world beaters over night. But much was expected in terms of their progress in coming to terms with the quality of the international opposition teams and bridging the gap. However, the distance between the dream and reality has been perhaps as stagnant as it was when Bangladesh first entered the fray.
Alok Kapali and Shariar Nafees may not exactly be household names around the world, but they are certainly integral players of this Bangladesh team, as wre Habibul Bashar, Tapash Bhaisya or even Manjural Islam, names that are being associated with the players’ list signing up with the ICL. The final names and numbers will come out into the open in the days to come, six names already announcing their retirement to the Bangladesh cricket board including the man in the picture, Aftab Ahmad, and with the ICL scheduled to kick start a new edition in early October. But
The only other factor that would have prompted some of the contemporary Bangladesh players to opt for what they would have felt a more on par contest would be the money factor that the opportunity with the ICL would provide. With cricket not really growing at the pace of an Indian player, Bangladesh players struggle to make decent pay to match their other contemporaries as also for endorsement. With the IPL being made to be more of an elite sport with the crème de la crème of the sport being picked to play alongside some young Indian hopefuls and with little chance for recognition in a nation where cricket has been allowed to stagnate, a sizeable number of the Bangladesh players missed out on that opportunity as well.
While the subject of legality is pending for the ICL, it has provided players who lost hope of making a mark for reasons markedly varied to play alongside some international names who were stars in their own right. The opportunity like that can sometimes be too good to pass up – to make money playing the game they love but without the disillusionment that teams at the bottom rung of the ICC are having to deal with.
