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Bangladesh board denies bypassing PCB

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has denied the PCB's claims that it had not followed the correct procedure for approaching players for the Bangladesh Premier League

Mohammad Isam
Mohammad Isam
18-Jan-2013
The Bangladesh board insists it followed the correct protocol in recruiting overseas players for the BPL  •  Chittagong Kings

The Bangladesh board insists it followed the correct protocol in recruiting overseas players for the BPL  •  Chittagong Kings

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has denied the PCB's claims that it had not followed the correct procedure for approaching players for the Bangladesh Premier League. The Bangladesh board also said that the PCB's last-minute refusal to give Pakistan players NOCs has caused it to be in a "difficult and embarrassing situation".
"On December 5, 2012, the BCB had formally written to the national cricket associations of all Full Members seeking support and cooperation for issuance of 'No Objection Certificate' to the cricketers under their respective jurisdiction who were interested in participating in the 2nd edition of BPL T20," a BCB media release said.
"The subsequent player auction, in which a good number of Pakistani players were bid for and picked up by different franchises, received worldwide media coverage. At no point during the continuous communication between the BCB and PCB on various matters since the BPL 2013 auction on December 20, 2012 did the PCB raise any concern about the NOC issue until January 16, 2013."
The PCB had claimed that the BCB bypassed them and approached the players directly. "This was regrettably felt by BCB when they approached PCB at the last moment for release of the players for their league," a Pakistan board media release said.
"As per practice and procedures in vogue, a home board has to approach the visiting players' parent board seeking release of its players for their domestic cricket competitions. In BPL's case, BCB, their representatives or the players' agents were in contact directly with the Pakistan players and PCB was kept out of this process. Even the auction of Pakistan players at BPL was done without PCB's prior permission or intimation."
The BCB also reminded Pakistan of their cooperation when Australia had refused to tour the country in 2008. Bangladesh had toured Pakistan in April that year, playing five ODIs and a Twenty20. But over the last year, the relations between the two boards have been poor, culminating in the PCB stopping their players' participation in Bangladesh's domestic Twenty20 competition.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent