Inter-Club Players’ Transfer
Nasir pulls off the biggest surprise
National team all-rounder Nasir Hossain pulled off the biggest surprise when he joined Abahani Limited against all speculations on the first day of the Inter-club players’ transfer for the Dhaka Premier Cricket League on Sunday. The two-day long first phase of the transfer began at the Bangabandhu National Stadium with nine out of 23 national pool players opting to join new clubs.
Nasir signed for Abahani at the last moment rejecting the offer of Kalabagan Cricket Academy.
Nasir claimed that both the parties failed to reach a mutual agreement, which prompted him to prefer Abahani ahead of KCA.
Nasir joined Ziaur Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain as the third pool player at Abahani, who were earlier linked with Anamul Haque and Imrula Kayes .
Anamul Haque is now expected to join KCA with Imrul still without any serious offer.
‘I preferred Abahani’s offer to other clubs,’ said Nasir, who played for Victoria Sporting Club in the last season.
‘They (KCA) refused to fulfill my demand, so I made up my mind not to join KCA,’ Nasir added.
It was learnt that Nasir demanded an amount of Tk 26 lakh in cash for signing up for KCA but as they refused to pay the amount, so Nasir changed his decision in the final moment.
‘Abahani is a very professional club and they offer adequate facilities to the players. In particular, they have good central wicket in the club tent which will come to a great help for preparing for the tournament,’ said Nasir.
In the first day, national team skipper Mushfiqur Rahim also completed his signing formalities with Prime Doleshwar after signing off from Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Limited.
Mushfiq reportedly emerged as the highest paid player in absence of Sakib Al Hasan, though he refused to disclose the amount.
‘I was very disappointed to see the rumours in the media regarding my transfer money,’ said Mushfiq, who joined Prime Doleshwar along with pacer Shafiul Islam. Club officials said that national team batsman Mominul Haque will be their final choice as pool player.
‘Though Prime Doleshwar was so close to the title, they finally failed to clinch that in the last season,’ said Mushfiq, hoping that this time they are going to form a strong team to claim the title.
Besides Nasir and Mushfiq, another seven players – Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Naeem Islam, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Farhad Reza and Shafiul Islam – signed for different teams on the first day.
Mashrafee, Naeem and Mithun signed for Mohammedan while Mahmudullah, Taskin and Farhad Reza joined Prime Bank Cricket Club. Shafiul joined Doleshwar in the pacer quota.
Expressing gratitude to BCB, Mashrafee said: ‘BCB took a very good decision by creating separate grade for pace bowlers. It was a very auspicious decision for the betterment of cricket.’
‘Every time we see that the pacers are ignored during transfer phase. But with the new decision made by BCB, this problem has come to an end. The pacers will now get better opportunities to improve themselves.
‘I played for Mohammedan for the last two seasons but failed to clinch any silverware. This time I am quite hopeful. And as I was committed to Mohammedan, so I have signed in for them again this season.’
-With New Age input
