DHAKA // Six Bangladesh players, including the former Test captain Habibul Bashar, have resigned from the national team Sunday in an apparent move to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), an official said. The former captain Habibul Bashar, along with Shariar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, Mosharraf Hossain, Farhad Reza and Dhiman Ghosh - who all have contracts with the Bangladesh Cricket Board - cited "personal reasons" in their resignation letters, board official Ashraf Hossain said.
"The players only said they will not be available for the national team," Mr Hossain said. He added that they did not mention any plans to join the ICL. The board was holding an emergency meeting today to discuss the resignations. Local media reports said as many as 14 Bangladesh players could quit the national team in order to join the ICL in a newly formed team based in Bangladesh. The Indian Cricket League is a Twenty20 competition that is not recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the game's governing body, and runs in opposition to the sanctioned Indian Premier League (IPL). Players competing in the ICL therefore face potential bans from international cricket. The 36-year-old Bashar confirmed he had been in discussions with the ICL but had not signed a contract yet. "I can say only about myself that I have got the proposal from the ICL and am talking with them. But nothing has yet been finalised," he said.
Other former or current national team players who were also expected to the join the ICL include Mohammad Rafique, Alok Kapali, Nazim Uddin, Manjurul Islam, Tapash Baishya and Mohammad Sharif, the daily Prothom Alo newspaper reported today. The loss of so many top players would devastate the Bangladesh national team, which already struggle to compete against the top sides. The national team, which included Kapali, Reza and Ghosh, convincingly lost all three matches in a limited overs series against Australia earlier this month. Bangladesh face New Zealand in a Test and one-day series at home next month.
*AP with Reuters
