Cricket dug out of BNS

[reverse_swing]

Sports Reporter

There were mixed emotions at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

While the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFB) made their presence felt by digging up the wickets of the country's premier venue on the day they took permanent possession, some cricketers, fans and officials staged a token hunger strike outside in protest at the government decision to shift cricket to the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

According to Reuters, former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud was also joined the protest in the afternoon. But the 33-year-old all-rounder denied taking part in the hunger strike.

"I went to the stadium to practice as usual and also had a few words with a group of protesters. But for obvious reasons I did not take part in the hunger strike nor did I sign anything," said Mahmud to The Daily Star Sport last night.

Mahmud is one of the cricketers on the Board's payroll.

While Mahmud showed no emotion seeing cricket's last rites being written at the venue where he started his playing career and which has hosted 17 Tests and 58 one-day internationals, another former Bangladesh captain Raquibul Hasan could not hide his frustration.



DON'T BREAK OUR HEARTS! (L) Workers dig into one of the cricket pitches at the Bangabandhu National Stadium as a stunned former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud (R) looks on from the stands yesterday. On this very ground, Mahmud started his playing career some 17 years ago but so many like him will never play another cricket match there as the venue has been handed over permanently to the Bangladesh Football Federation. (Bottom) As if to illustrate that fact, footballers of Premier Division club Arambagh Krira Shangha lose no time in arriving for practice at the much-loved stadium. PHOTO: Anisur Rahman


"As a cricketer it was painful to see that the pitches at the Bangabandhu National Stadium being dug up in front of my own eyes," said Raquibul, who came to the venue.

But a BFF official said they were in no hurry to excavate the pitch but were only acting at the request of the cricket authorities.

"We wanted to take some more time but the cricket board had asked for the soil of the pitches so that it could be used at Mirpur and that's why we are uprooting it to avoid further damag," said BFF deputy secretary Monjur Hossain Malu.

-Dailystar

Edited on, March 1, 2005, 5:45 PM GMT, by reverse_swing.

[akabir77]

sad day for BD cricket

[babubangla]

Sad to see.
But still we have to move on.
All tradition had it's day-1.
May be with Mirpur, that the beginging of a new cricket chapter for Bangladesh.

I hate to see cricket going out of BNS.
But I will also hate to see if Cricket brought back to BNS someday.
We all want our decisions to be firm and well-thought.

[chyicarus]

Dhaka Stadium has a lot of history- lot of memories!
It was built for cricket and turned into a "goyaal ghor" by freakin' BFF!

[bourny3]

That is sad. and Khaled Mahmud was there.

[Hasib]

While it is good that test cricket will be played in Mirpur, its shud have still been kept for domestic mathes