The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Thursday finalised the players’ pool for the upcoming Dhaka Premier League without the suspended all-rounder Sakib al Hasan. A total of 23 cricketers have been named on the pool with players who represented the national side in international cricket since last October. Sakib was in the initial 24-member pool, but officials said his name was dropped following his six-month ban recently imposed by the BCB.
The 27-year-old former national captain had reportedly signed for champions Gazi Tank Cricketers for a whopping Tk 50 lakh before his suspension came.
The inter-club player transfers will begin on August 6, two days later than the original schedule, with the competition set to start on October 10. The BCB divided the pool cricketers into two categories with 17 players in Grade-A and six others in Grade-B.
The batsmen, spinners, wicketkeepers and all-rounders have been placed in Grade-A and the pace bowlers in Grade-B.
The decision to divide the players into two categories was taken to give the pace bowlers a breathing space, said the officials.
The pace bowlers, who are included in the pool, struggled to find a team in the past as the clubs are mostly interested in recruiting the batsmen, spinners and all-rounders.
Under the new system a club can hire a maximum two cricketers from Grade-A and one cricketer from Grade-B.
The players included in Grade A are Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain, Anamul Haque, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque, Sohag Gazi, Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Shamsur Rahman, Ziaur Rahman, Naeem Islam, Arafat Sunny, Farhad Reza, Sabbir Rahman, Marshall Ayub, Imrul Kayes and Mithun Ali.
The six pacers placed in Grade-B are Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Rubel Hossain, Al-Amin Hossain, Robiul Islam and Taskin Ahmed.
-With New Age input
