BCB in shock as Bashar, 5 others 'retire'..................

Last edited by Chief_Adviser on Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

Six cricketers, including former captain Habibul Bashar, turned in on Sunday letters of retirement from international as well as domestic cricket to the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

The others are opener Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed, all-rounder Farhad Reza, wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh and spinner Mosharraf Hossain Rubel.

They did not, however, cite reasons for deciding to call it quits so early.

The players dropped their letters by courier at the BCB office before it opened on Sunday.

However, a local media report, published on Daily Prothom Alo on Sunday, said at least 14 leading cricketers were about to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).

The BCB sat at an emergency meeting in the afternoon and summoned all six contracted players to appear in person on Tuesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

"The country has invested a lot on these players. Even most of them were sent abroad for treatment and we did never expect retirement letters from them. We are completely taken aback by their decision," Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, the chairman of the cricket operations committee, told reporters after the meeting in Mirpur.

On whether the cricketers had mentioned reasons for their retirements, Lipu said "All of them wrote in same language and after reading the letters it appears that they want to retire for a while."

Since the cricketers did not disclose the reasons, the BCB cannot accept the media report that some 14 leading cricketers was about to join the ICL, he said.

"Today we tried to talk with them, but none answered the phone, letting others attended to the calls," Lipu said.

"We sent them SMS and send letters by post asking them to appear at BCB office on Sept 16 and explain details about their retirements."

Bashar confirmed that he had been in discussions with the ICL but yet to sign a contract.

"I can say only about myself that I have got the proposal from the ICL and am talking with them. But nothing has yet been finalised," he told Reuters.

The most successful captain in the country's history, Bashar led Bangladesh to its maiden test win against Zimbabwe and guided the side to 29 one-day internationals victories.

He is also country's leading Test run scorer with 3,026.

Besides the six, the report also said Mohammad Rafique, Alok Kapali, Nazim Uddin, Manjurul Islam, Tapash Kumar Baishya, Mohammad Sharif, Mahbubul Karim and Golam Mabud are planning to join ICL, which the International Cricket Council, the game's global governing body, does not recognise.

The newspaper said the Bangladeshi players would all play in the same team, styled the Dhaka Warriors.