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ICL hits Bangladesh hard

Sports Reporter
Bangladesh cricket was rocked by seismic jolts yesterday with the news that six contracted player's had announced their retirement from the game. This latest shocking episode only served to deepen the fissures within the country's game after the national team's continued failures at the international stage.
Former national skipper Habibul Bashar along with opener Shahriar Nafees, middle-order batsman Aftab Ahmed, wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh, left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and all-rounder Forhad Reza came to the board's office at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday to submit their respective letters of their resignation.
The six now seem all set to join the highly lucrative Indian Cricket League (ICL) alongside other prominent players like Alok Kapali, Nazimuddin and Mohammad Rafique.
The players confirmed that they had all got offers from the ICL authorities but had yet to put pen to paper on the deal.
’Yes, we have got an offer from ICL but we are yet to sign the contract," detailed Bashar, the most successful Tigers skipper who has been in the wilderness after being axed from the national side.
Monetary benefit is believed to be the main motivation behind the decision to join the Indian rebel league as the competition is not recognized by the ICC. Players appearing in tournaments under the ICL banner are liable to be banned from all top-class cricket.
"We know that many would consider money as the only reason behind taking such a difficult decision but for me there were some other strong reasons to take this hard decision," explained Bashar.
High ranking officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) met immediately to discuss the issue They later gave off the impression of not wanting to lose so many front-line players at one
time - - something that would create a vacuum in a pipeline where quality players are already slim pickings.
However, the BCB confirmed that there will be no shirking of punishment that Is set to be imposed on the players for follow-
ing such a personal agenda and settingasidc national goals.
"It was stated by the players that they intend to retire from all forms of international and domestic cricket for a certain period of time but the reasons for their intention to retire were not stated in their respective letters," said Gazi Ashraf Hossain, chairman of the cricket operations committee, after the meeting.
"The board attaches great importance to the matter and expresses its concern at the abrupt decision by so many players to retire from the game and that's why we tried to talk to them over telephone but nobody responded. We then messaged them to attend a meetingonTuesday," he added
"We are hopeful that the interaction will give us a good solution. Still officially we don't know whether they have taken the decision for ICL but one thing is clear that there is a common guideline and we will implement it without any hesitation if any player takes part in this competition," Ashraf warned.
The former national captain said that they were shocked and the event was unexpected especially at a time when they were trying to arrange something for the players to make sure that they will earn more money as well as gain international exposure.
"It was shocking and unexpected. Interestingly we had a meeting with Indian board official Lalit Modi during the ICC award ceremony where he promised to confirm minimum three Bangladeshi player's participation in the IPL during April-May next year."
"On the other hand we have a chance to participate in the T20 Champions League in 2010. And all this effort has been taken to make sure our players get more money and international exposure," he informed.
There had been a whispering about such planning taking place during the recently concluded tour of Australia and it was a surprise that there had been no pre-emptive measures by the board to stop such amassexoaus.
"We heard that some players were getting offers and that they also refused to take it And it was not unlikely when other countries have been facing the same problem. There is no doubt that this has come up all of a sudden," said Ashraf.
It was leamt that the BCB will meet with the other contracted players today to let them know about the consequences of someone deciding to play in this rebel league.
There was also whisperings about Mohammad Ashraful's involvement in the event. Reponedly the offer had come to the captain first and many have even pointed the finger towards his visit to England which may be a way to keep away from the episode.
"We don't know about anything like that rather he informed me that he has got the offer but rejectedit," informed Ashraf.
Many BCB officials were surprised because of the money the players have been offered by the ICL authority.
"It's not like that they are going to get three-four times better money than what the board are currently paying them. It’s hard to believe that they are going to lose their national pride for such an amount of money," said an official on condition of anonymity.
However in a day of sparkling revelations, the biggest question of who exactly had masterminded such an exodus, remains to be answered.