Dhaka League likely to start on April 7

The CCDM also decided to rule-out the Players by Choice system and revive the tradition of the Dhaka clubs roping in the cricketers directly. The clubs will get two days to register their players – next Friday and Saturday. The CCDM though is yet to decide on the number of national pool players. It was learned that the list would be released within a week. However, the high-voltage 50-over tournament is likely to miss several national cricketers, given Bangladesh’s busy international calendar this year. This was a big issue in the past where the clubs were reluctant to participate in the tournament without the national stars. M Nazmul Islam, senior vice-president on the CCDM, is however, confident that there will be no such issues this time around and that the clubs have reached a consensus on it. The CCDM will try to hold the tournament in such a way that the national players will be available for the majority of the competition. The tournament will allow the national players to participate in the first phase before the national team leave for Ireland and England. Bangladesh are set to play a tri-nation series in Ireland prior to the 2017 Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in England in May-June. As far as the Super League phase is concerned, it will be tough to make the national cricketers available, unless the round is pushed to a later date. “Participating clubs have agreed to play without the national players. But we’ll try to maintain the glamour like the past. So we’ll have an endeavour to make the national players available for most parts of the league,” Nazmul told the media on Wednesday. “We have fixed a schedule for the players’ transfer. As per the schedule, the two-day transfer will be held on March 17 and 18 respectively. The league is scheduled to begin on April 7. Those are actually tentative dates. They might be changed. But we cannot delay the league further due to different reasons like the rainy season, holy Ramadan and others. So we’ll try to fix all those within the shortest possible time,” he said. According to the CCDM senior vice-president, the committee will meet BCB president Nazmul Hasan this Monday and finalise the dates of the tournament. There could be a possible change in the number of players a side can field, in case the national cricketers are unavailable. Last year, a side could play only one foreigner in the starting XI. Three venues – Fatullah’s Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium and BKSP 3 and 4 grounds - have been listed for the competition. The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur was ruled out from hosting any matches, bearing in mind that the home of cricket is currently undergoing renovation.