Gone are the days when the Dhaka Premier League was known as a common habitat for some of the modest Pakistani cricketers, who would find it as a happy hunting ground.
They were replaced by a group of Indian journeymen in the ongoing campaign as teams preferred them over cricketers from other countries for some obvious reasons.At least seven Indian cricketers already have played for different teams, including three for one club, in the first seven rounds and a few others are on their way, said the officials.
Each team is allowed to field only one overseas player in their playing XI, but they can register as many as they want to be part of the squad.
Abahani Limited took the opportunity to field Indian player Uday Kaul, Manvinder Bisla and Manoj Tiwary in different occasions and the list is only growing.
Delhi all-rounder Milind Kumar made his debut for Brothers Union this week while Saxena brothers, Jatin and Jalaj are playing for Kalabagan and Legends of Rupganj respectively.
Haryana cricketer Sachin Rana have played two matches so far for Prime Bank Cricketers to make some useful
contributions, which prompted the holders to continue with him in remaining matches.
Prime Doleshwar coach Mizanur Rahman Babul said on Tuesday that they are going to replace Sri Lankan Chamara Silva with the 25-year old Rajshatan all-rounder Ashok Menaria.
Mohammedan manager Ziaur Rahman Tapu added that they are also looking to rope in an India player to replace their current overseas player Upul Tharanga, who will leave soon.
Kalabagan Krira Chakra captain Mashrafee bin Muratza said they are also looking for an Indian as replacement of Zimbabwean batsman Hamilton Masakadza.
‘Most probably we will bring Rajat Bhatia,’ Mashrafee told New Age on Tuesday. ‘He will be free after the May 21 as his team in the IPL [Indian Premier League] has already been eliminated.’
It, however, may not be easy for Kalabagan to get the signature of Bhatia, a middle-order batsman and medium pacer as Abahani is also looking for his service.
‘So far we know he will play for our club,’ said Jalal Yunus, Bangladesh Cricket Board director, who is also an Abahani official.
Jalal said his team preferred Indian players this season after the Board of Control for Cricket in India lifted an unofficial embargo on them playing in overseas List ‘A’ competition.
‘In the last few seasons the BCCI was not allowing them in overseas league,’ said Jalal. ‘But this time they softened their position. It helped us finding some useful Indian players despite the fact that the IPL is now going on.’
Mohammedan official Ziaur Rahman highlighted that the absence of too many quality Sri Lankan players and the visa problem of Pakistani cricketers are the reasons that prompted the teams to lurk at Indian player.
‘It’s easy to get Indian players now, though we are still struggling to find a quality replacement for Tharanga,’ he said. ‘We don’t mind having a Pakistani player in our team. But getting a Bangladeshi visa is not very easy for them now.
‘You see what happened to Usha KC in hockey league. They had to sweat it out to bring the Pakistani players. Usually it takes several days for them to get the visa. By this time he is sure to miss few matches,’ he said.
Legends of Rupganj coach Khaled Mashud opined that the standard of Pakistani players also has fallen drastically these days.
‘There are very few players with quality in Pakistan outside their national pool. So it has become difficult for us,’ said Mashud, whose team had to play at least two matches without any foreign player.
Only Gazi Group is so far happy with a Pakistani player as Saeed Anwar Jr provided them what they really wanted.
‘We needed a batsman who can bowl left-arm spin. He [Anwar] is the kind of player we were looking for,’ said club coach Mohammad Salahuddin.
-With New Age input
