Bangladesh players Taskin Ahmed and Tawhid Hridoy had sought No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to play in the Lankan Premier League (LPL).
This was in line with the recent trend where many of the national team stars are getting opportunities to play in franchise leagues around the world, marking an increasing demand for their services. In addition, the NOCs would allow them to play in the Lankan Premier League (LPL). Players are able to improve their skills and obtain much-needed experience playing in different environments by taking advantage of this opportunity.
It was learned that Taskin will not be granted NOC for the tournament due to workload management issues ahead of the Asia Cup and the World Cup, but Hridoy’s NOC will be granted, according to BCB sources who confirmed this information to The Daily Star yesterday. Both Taskin and Hridoy applied for NOC on an official basis for the LPL.
Hridoy’s NOC application asked for permission to participate in the competition for Jaffna Kings until August 8, whereas Taskin’s NOC request was for the complete LPL. Additionally, Shoriful Islam has let the board know of an LPL offer, but he has not formally requested NOC approval.
“The request for Towhid Hridoy’s NOC has been approved. For Taskin, on the other hand, the board has decided against it since the World Cup and the Asia Cup are both coming up soon, and also because he is presently playing in a franchise league (the Zimbabwe Afro-T10 league), which means he would exceed the degree of effort he should take on. “Keeping that in mind, the team management and board has decided not to grant him [Taskin] NOC for LPL,” an official from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said to The Daily Star on the condition of maintaining their anonymity.
Taskin, who has not yet prioritized his national duty above his involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL), English County Cricket (with Yorkshire), or the Pakistan Super League (PSL), would find this news to be quite disappointing. The BCB made the decision to only award NOC to Hridoy for the time being due to the fact that batsmen are subjected to less stress than fast bowlers.
“Because Taskin is performing so well, the interest is there to get him signed and it will remain but for this year, the Asia Cup and World Cup are there and BCB wants him fresh and fit for the tournament,” the BCB official stated.
Mushfiqur Rahim, in addition to Taskin, is now participating in the ongoing Zim Afro T10 competition in Zimbabwe. While this is going on, star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and batter Liton Das are competing in the Global T20 Canada event. Shakib is also scheduled to play in the LPL with fellow countryman Mohammad Mithun for the Galle Gladiators. Liton Das is also competing in the Global T20 Canada tournament.
For the players, the knowledge that doing well for the national team affords them opportunity to succeed in other leagues is a source of fresh motivation.
“Other franchise leagues are showing increased interest because our players are performing so exceptionally well, which is why there has been a recent uptick in that level of competition.” In the past, when there was a restriction established for NOC in just two tournaments, the only other franchise league that garnered attention was Shakib. “Now that our players are performing well and interest has increased, the board will be taking things into account before making decisions on these,” the cricket operations manager, Shahriar Nafees, told The Daily Star yesterday. “These decisions will be taken into consideration.”
In spite of the fact that Taskin’s situation could be an anomaly due to the fact that the Tigers still have the very significant ODI World Cup in front of them, the BCB will need to reevaluate their workload program following the highlight competition in India. Because more players are being sought out for overseas competitions, the player pool will need to be large enough to enable stars to play in other leagues when the calendar permits them to do so.