Top Bangladesh cricketers asked to play in National Cricket League ahead of India tour

Dhaka: Leading Bangladesh cricketers, who are in contention for the upcoming two-Test tour of India, will have to play first two rounds of National Cricket League in order to remain eligible for selection, national selector and former skipper Habibul Bashar has said. While exceptions will be made for Shakib al Hasan and Litton Kumar Das, who are playing the Caribbean Premier League, and those on ‘A’ team duty, others will have to play in order to get selected for the India tour. [caption id=“attachment_6264971” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal. AFP[/caption] It is learnt that the newly-appointed bowling consultant Daniel Vettori will be joining the camp on 25 October, ahead of India tour that starts with three T20 Internationals. The two Tests will be played from 14-18 November (Indore) and 22-26 November (Kolkata). Seniors like Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyadh will appear in the NCL after a gap of four years. “Without any valid reason, no one will be allowed to skip NCL. Suppose, someone has hamstring injury or broke a finger, then it is something for consideration but without these reasons we will not entertain other explanation as everyone will have to play the NCL,” Bashar was quoted as saying by the ‘Cricbuzz’. The decision has been taken in the wake of their defeat in the one-off Test against Afghanistan. “They (national cricketers) need to make the best use of NCL as it will provide them with an opportunity to spend some time in the middle and they must make that into a habit, as we have seen some of our leading batsmen were unable to do it against Afghanistan,” Bashar said. BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan informed that Vettori will be available for 11 days in his role as bowling consultant. “We will start our preparation camp for the upcoming India series from 25 October and he (Vettori) will be available from the start of the camp as he is coming before that,” Akram said. Akram also informed that the team’s white-ball batting consultant Neil McKenzie will be guiding the side in the opening Test against India in Indore. “McKenzie will come and he will stay during the first Test against India [ as the batting consultant]. We are trying to have him both with red and white ball game because it will be good for our team,” he was quoted as saying by the website.