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As the second edition of Lanka Premier League is set to kick off on July 30, the tournament has been handed a major blow before the beginning of new season. With Bangladesh expected to host a 5-match T20I series against Australia from August 2-8 in Dhaka, the players won't be available for first half of LPL 2.
BCB Cricket Operation Chairman Akram Khan confirmed the news ''They (Bangladeshi cricketers) will not be available from the beginning of LPL as we have series against Australia. We also have other series lined up (against England and New Zealand) but in between, we have some time and they can go at that point and play in the LPL.''
Which players will be unavailable for first half of LPL 2?
As many as 7 Bangladesh players have registered themselves for the LPL 2 draft. The list of the players is as follows: Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar. While all the players would have definitely got selected by some or the other franchise, it could have an impact on how the franchises strategize with 7 of them unavailable for first part of the season. Considering the experience all of them bring with them in the T20 format, it will be quite interesting to see how things unfold in the upcoming draft.
National duty is their first preference: Akram Khan
BCB also confirmed that all the cricketers are ready to take part across formats and they have informed national duty is their first preference. ''They have said that if they are picked and if they can manage to have time to play in LPL they will play there but not at the expense of skipping any national duty,'' Akram concluded.