Former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful said on Saturday that he is a relieved man as he is now eligible to return back into selected domestic tournament.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board partially lifted the ban on Ashraful, allowing him to play in selected domestic competitions as he completed three-year suspension handed to him due to match-fixing involvement in Bangladesh Premier League.
‘This is a new beginning for me,’ Ashraful told reporters at his residence after he returned from Britain in the morning.
‘I am feeling relieved that I can play under the BCB and use their facilities.
‘I got a new opportunity to revive my career. Now my first priority is to perform well in domestic cricket,’ he said.
‘The last three years was quite tough,’ he said.
Ashraful was initially banned for eight years in 2014 after he tearfully confessed on national television of helping fix matches in the scandal-hit Bangladesh Premier League.
The Bangladesh Premier League, Twenty20 tournament, was eventually left suspended in the wake of the match-fixing controversy before resuming in 2015 with six new franchises.
The International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption investigators discovered the fixing scam after being asked by Bangladesh authorities to monitor the lucrative T20 tournament.
A local appeal panel in September 2014 cut Ashraful’s ban to five years including a two-year suspended sentence, meaning he can return to competitive cricket from August 13, 2016.
Ashraful said that he did everything that was possible for him to stay fit as he feels he is yet to give his best to cricket.
‘I think I’ve yet to give my best to cricket,’ said Ashraful,
‘I tried everything that I was allowed during this period. I trained for two years under [Sarwar] Imran sir, and later went back to Ankur academy. I also trained in Banasree, where I live,’ he said.
Ashraful is now expected to resume his domestic career in late September with the Bangladesh Cricket League, the country’s inter-provincial first-class competition, though it is still not clear whether he will be able to do that.
BCB officials said that ICC had given franchise-based tournament separate status hence it is difficult for them to announce whether Ashraful will be eligible to play in all domestic tournaments.
Ashraful is expected to be considered for the national team in 2018 while he is also expected to be considered in the BPL in the same year.
‘We have now asked for a clarification from the ICC, clearly specifying which competitions he will be allowed to play,’ said BCB’s chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury.
Ashraful said that he is looking forward to participate in the BCL.
‘If I am picked, I will be fit for BCL,’ he said.
‘Before leaving for the UK, I requested Akram [Khan] bhai and Nannu[Minhazul Abedin] bhai to keep me in the BCL if possible. I know that it might be tough on their part since only the best first-class players are selected in this competition,’ he said.
-With New Age input
