Indian Cricket League

Bangladesh bans ICL rebels

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday have announced a ten-year ban for 13 of its top cricketers for joining the unauthorised Indian Cricket League (ICL), and is now hoping that the BCCI’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Champions Twenty20 League will help them revive and boost the game in the country.

An emergency meeting of the board this afternoon decided to ban “players, officials and technical staff of the BCB who participate in events not authorised by the ICC and BCB”. A press release said the board was examining legal technicalities “for taking appropriate proceedings” against the ICL players and has also decided to “review the existing format of the contracts with players to discourage such abrupt action by cricketers in the future”.

Ahmed Sajjadul Alam, a BCB executive board member who was part of the meeting, said that the ICL ban would act as a “deterrent” and set an example “in the interests of Bangladesh cricket”. He also termed suggestions that the country’s Test status would be affected by the exodus as “terribly unfair”, and claimed it had adequate replacements to ensure that New Zealand, who are visiting this month, is “in for a surprise”.

Tags: Bangladesh, Dhaka Warriors, ICL