'Cricketers in Bangladesh are being suppressed' - Shakib Al Hasan lashes out at BCB

The performance of the Bangladesh Cricket Team hasn’t been up to the mark since their impressive show in the 50-over World Cup. However, since the Marquee quadrennial event in England, the Asian Tigers proceeded to lose the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka before going down in a home Test against Afghanistan.

Following the defeat, the general consensus as far as cricketing circles in the country was concerned, everyone, including the BCB linked the national side’s inability to counter wrist-spin and tearaway fast bowlers as the major reason for the defeats. Hence in a bid to rectify it, the BCB made it compulsory for every team in the BPL to field at least one wrist-spinner and a fast bowler.

Shakib not in favor of 1 leg-spinner + 1 pacer rule

However, the decision hasn’t gone down well with the star all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan. Hasan feels that the said rule will suppress the cricketers. “For so many years we couldn’t select a leg-spinner for the senior team, but suddenly we made plans to include seven legspinners in the BPL. This decision does come as a bit of a surprise, but I would still state that the board has taken a decision that it thinks is good.”

“I think that leg-spinners should bowl a lot of overs in first-class cricket to gain confidence and consistency. The BPL is an international-standard competitive tournament where you will face scenarios that you are likely to face in international cricket. You share the dressing room with overseas cricketers. It is not the place to make a player,” Shakib was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Samakal.

‘BCB should focus on providing basic amenities first’

The star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was also of the opinion that focusing on the national team was not the only responsibility of the organizers, and that they should first focus on providing the basic amenities like installing air-conditioners in the indoor facilities, something that still hasn’t been done despite numerous promises in the past ten years.

“Only focusing on the national team shouldn’t be the main job of the organizers. Places like Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet should have a proper gym, running and indoor facilities. You cannot bat for more than 15 minutes in the Mirpur indoor facilities, because it gets so hot. They haven’t installed ACs even after being told for 10 years. It is quite disappointing, especially when we see indoors in other countries that have clear lighting and ACs. Also, first-class match fees are very unacceptable,” he added.

“FC match-fee not acceptable”

Shakib Al Hasan also opined that the salary given to First-Class cricketers is not acceptable and that domestic players in the country were being suppressed.

“I always get a feeling that cricketers in our country are being suppressed. This is not right. Everyone should have equal opportunity. A player should be left to earn what he feels he deserves. If the team doesn’t want to take the player at that payment, the player will deal with it. But to stop him from freely naming his price is not right,” Shakib Al Hasan said.

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