Goodbye team buses, hello helicopters

By Mohammad Isam

Players arriving for Twenty20 matches in a helicopter is an often-used gimmick. But for Shahriar Nafees, Mushfiqur Rahim and Alok Kapali, a chopper will actually be necessary to get them to the logo unveiling ceremony of the Bangladesh Premier League on time.

The three players are icon players for their respective sides in the upcoming Premier League but will all be involved in matches in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League on December 29, and could have less than an hour to make it to the Radisson hotel in Dhaka for the Premier League event.

Mushfiqur will be playing at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, 40km south of Dhaka, for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club while Nafees and Kapali will face off at the BKSP, to the northwest of Dhaka, for Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club and Gazi Tank Cricketers respectively. Since the logo unveiling programme begins at 6:00pm and the Premier Division matches could end as late as 5:30pm, the commute from both venues to Hotel Radisson by road will be impractical given Dhaka’s traffic situation, which is particularly bad on Thursday afternoons.

"It is practically impossible for them to reach the event on time, so we will have a helicopter pick them up from one ground and then go to the other. They will be dropped off at the Army Stadium near the hotel," BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said.

The players will still have a mile to cover after arriving at the Army Stadium. Since hardly anything moves on the Airport Road at that hour, they may be late for the ceremony anyway.