Mashrafe won’t be an icon if he retires, say Riders
Rangpur Riders pressed for a direct local signing along with two overseas signings for the upcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) during the ongoing meetings between the tournament’s governing council (GC) and franchises yesterday.
The GC denied the franchises the opportunity to sign players from the A+ category, particularly the signing of Shakib Al Hasan, who moved from Dhaka Dynamites to Rangpur in July.
“Our suggestion was that the team needs to be in a code for the next four years, given that we had maintained some policies for the past years. We asked them to allow players’ retention. As per the rule from the last season, we were allowed fresh signings but now the board is thinking differently. We asked for a mandatory direct local signing since they are thinking of allowing two or three direct overseas signings,” Rangpur’s chief executive officer Ishtiaque Sadeque told reporters.
When queried about whether there was any discussion over the Shakib issue, Sadeque said: “I don’t think Shakib is a big issue. The agreement between the franchise and the BCB is finished, so they [the GC] wanted to know if we want to remain for the next four years. There is no doubt Bashundhara Group wants to remain in the BPL through Rangpur Riders.”
Rangpur had declared Shakib their direct local signing on July 31, which raised questions about whether the franchise would part ways with Mashrafe Bin Mortaza -- who had led the team for the past two seasons -- as a team is not allowed two Icon or A+ category players. Both Shakib and Mashrafe have been leading A+ category players in past editions of the tournament.
“As far as I know, he [Mashrafe] will not be an Icon if he retires [from international cricket]. So he may remain one of our retained players, allowing both Mashrafe and Shakib to play for Rangpur. Mashrafe was wondering whether he should be an Icon because he doesn’t play T20I [for Bangladesh].
“So logically Mashrafe cannot be kept as an Icon. An Icon should be someone new or promising. The board admitted they did not have enough top cricketers to make Icons. What I know is he doesn’t want to remain an Icon if he retires, but at the end of the day everything will depend on the regulations set by the board,” Ishtiaque added.
