Sports Live: Bangladesh Cricket Board is soon going to form a shadow national team under the brand name of Bangladesh Tigers, BCB President Nazmul Hassan said on Tuesday. Team Bangladesh Tigers will be coached by the local staff under the instructions of the head coach of the national team, Nazmul added.

“We have decided to form a new team under the name of Bangladesh Tigers which will be a shadow of the national team,” he told the media after the 10th general meeting of the board at the BCB headquarter in Mirpur.

“The players who get omitted from the national team often lack facilities to keep themselves fit or ready to make a comeback to the national team, so we have decided to form a shadow team. All the players of this team will get the maximum facilities to get prepared,” Nazmul said.

He said “The initiative of the Bangladesh Tigers will continue around the year and they will get the best possible facilities from the board. We can provide players to the national from here when needed.”

The current selection panel, led by Minhajul Abedin, will continue to work till the next T20 World Cup which is scheduled to take place in India later this year, said the BCB boss.

The board decided to run to host the next edition of the ICC Champions Trophy as the lone host. The ICC has recently finalized the big events of cricket which will take place from 2024 to 2031. During this period, a total of two 50-over World Cups, four T20 World Cups, and two editions of the Champions Trophy will take the place.

“A country needs to have at least 10 stadiums with full facilities to host a 50-over World Cup, or at least eight venues to host T20 World Cup. So we are not going to try to host 50 or 20-over World Cups alone. Instead, we will run to host a Champions Trophy. And at the same time, we also try to host 50 or 20-over World Cup jointly with any sub-continental team,” Nazmul added.

BCB has also finalized a Tk. 260-crore budget for the next fiscal confirmed the board president. The board discussed some complaints surfacing in the media about the bias umpiring in the ongoing Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket League. The board has already formed a committee to investigate the issues related to the league.

“We came to hear that the umpiring in the league is not up to the mark. And there are some complaints about possible irregularities in the league. But we didn’t receive any complaint from the match officials, clubs, or players,” Nazmul said.

BCB has increased the number of women players from 19 to 22 for the national contract which will be finalized in the coming weeks. At the same time, the central contract of the men’s team will also be announced soon by the cricket operation committee of the board.

Dhaka, 15 June (campuslive24.com)//BSC