It seems that the only solution to the problems posed as such as by the recent mass signing up of Bangladesh players for the ICL is either for the ICC to recognize the ICL or for the players to be shown a way. The BCCI, it appears, will do anything to stop the former from coming into being. While one neighbour is complying reluctantly in shock, another is in defiance.
The BCB, the Bangladesh Cricket Board, decided to impose a 10 year ban on those contracted Bangladesh players that chose to sign up with the rebel Twenty20 league, the ICL. It further rejected the resignations of the six players who turned in their letters but failed to meet the board explaining their actions as the BCB called an emergency meeting of all players to help assuage their problems and assure them of not having to sign up with the breakaway league.
While players like Habibul Bashar felt the decision of the BCB was paramount to de-recognising the services of the players who helped develop shape to the Bangladesh cricket team, others sulked over the fact that there were too many people within that were not allowing Bangladesh to grow as a cricket nation. While Bashar felt his coach was preventing his comeback, the coach himself felt that certain players were past their time and in the absence of worthwhile contributions, keeping them in the team was only detrimental to the progress of the nation.
Without the opportunity to talk things through with the six players who tendered their resignation, the only way the BCB chose to enforce damage control was toe educate the other contracted players the consequences of joining up with the unrecognized league, face lengthy bans that effectively ruled them out of any future prospects of representing their sides. In addition, they would be rewarded with pay increments and with the BCCI chipping in to do their part, perhaps a few IPL contracts for the players would not hurt the scenario at all.
But the question really is: how is it really aiding the cause of Bangladesh cricket? The additional pay package would certainly help the cause of the cricketers. The few IPL contracts would perhaps help expose them to international players like it has, the young talent in India. But it remains to be seen how many franchisees actually pick these players in their team and actually play them. Besides, contracts for a few and not the others still means life continues to be difficult for the few and the rifts could only get worse when little improvement is made collectively on the national front. What Bangladesh cricket needs is impetus.
But the recent decisions hardly suggest that they are. The move to sign on more players for the IPL sounds more like another case of BCCI’s high handedness to prevent the recognition that the ICL has been getting close to. The only way to keep Bangladesh on the roadmap would have been to reach a compromise with the ICL which the BCCI has chosen to leave moot. SLC, Sri Lanka Cricket, have already allowed five of their ICL affiliated players, including Marvan Atapattu, Russel Arnold, Upul Chandana, Avishka Gunawardene and Saman Jayantha, to play in the domestic structure, showing perhaps that that Sri Lanka was not closing the door on their country’s prospects. It is clearly a decision that has upset the BCCI officialdom if sources are anything to believe by. The ICC may be forced to pull up the SLC over the decisions if only to maintain their share in this profit sharing formula.

But is the ICL really such a big threat to the IPL that the BCCI feels the need to continue to subdue its rival? Isn’t cricket poorer for having to live in parallel worlds and deny international cricket fans the opportunity to watch full strength, star studded teams? Who will turn up to watch a half baked team when a full team is still testing the patience of fans?

There may be more such ‘rebellious’ acts to follow. South Africa are facing a gaping hole in their cricket structure, especially so in the one day game because of the recognition of players who joined up with the ICL and later went on to sign Kolpak contracts that made them unavailable to serve South African cricket interests. New Zealand were put out of their country’s prime resources as well. The ICL could well be forming not just the Dhaka Warriors but also, New Zealand Lighting, South African Springboks, and so on, given the number of player defection that these boards were forced to part with in diktats from the ICC initiated by the BCCI in a remote control operation.322610