Ashraful wants 5 foreign cricketers in playing XI, Nafees disagrees

Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is the biggest tournament in the domestic circuit of Bangladesh and the 5th season of this franchise based tournament is only three months away.


All the 8 participating teams have been working very hard to build a strong team for this season and most of them have completed their negotiations with foreign players.

Meanwhile, The BPL Governing Committee (GC) announced on May, 2016 that 5 foreign players would be allowed in the playing XI for this season and it was decided for the betterment of the Bangladesh Cricket.

However, the decision was turned out as a confidential one as so many people from the cricketing society showed their disappointment against this.

The ODI skipper of Bangladesh, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and dashing opener, Tamim Iqbal have already shown their disappointment against this decision openly and with them a lot of players also did the same.

But the youngest test centurion of Bangladesh, Mohammad Ashraful doesn’t think like them as he thinks playing 5 foreign players in the first XI will help the BPL to be more attractive.

While talking to Bhorer Kagoj, he said, “BPL is a world-class cricket tournament and so many players have played in this. If 5 foreign players play in the first XI, then it will make the tournament more attractive. It is not only a domestic tournament but also an international one.”

On the other hand, left-handed batsman Shahriar Nafees said, “If 7 local players play in 7 teams, then we need only 49 cricketer. However, if the number of the teams is increased to 8, then we only need 56 cricketers.”

He added, “If BPL GC have decided to allow 5 overseas players in playing XI, then it will be harmful for the local cricketers.”

However, leg-spinning all-rounder, Tanbir Haider is ready to take this decision as a positive one. He said, “Opportunity for the local players will be decreased but they will get more chances to learn. That will be helpful for the future.”

Meanwhile, Sohag Gazi got really concerned with this as he said, “If the decision remains same, then only 48 cricketers will be able to play. On the other hand, the number will be increased to 56 if 7 local players get the chance in the playing XI. If five foreign players play in the first XI, then the local players will be in a great trouble.”

Former wicket-keeper batsman, Dhiman Ghosh also thinks that way. He said, “The more local player will play in the BPL, the more improvement will happen. The crowd won’t take this decision easily too and the cricketer will be demotivated.”

A meeting will be held on tomorrow between the BPL GC members and the final decision will be taken there.