2 new teams to play in ACC Emerging Cup
Sports Reporter
Two new teams have interested to play in ACC Emerging Teams Cup 2017 in Bangladesh after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong pulled out of the tournament because of their pre-scheduled engagement at that time.
The tournament was scheduled to kickstart on March 15 to 26. But it has later been delayed for 10 days. And then, UAE and Hong Kong withdrew themselves from the tournament.
Coined by Asian Cricket Council (ACC), the 50-over tournament, thought to be a good platform for youngsters, will be held at two different host cities of the country with the participation of eight Asian teams.
Of them, four Test playing nations-India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka along with Afghanistan, Nepal and two new teams, splitting into two groups, will take part in the second tournament.
First time it was played in Singapore in 2013, where India emerged champions beating its archrival Pakistan by nine wickets. Todays Babar Azam, Mohamamd Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Bilawal Bhatti from Pakistan and Unmakt Chand, Axar Patel, Lokesh Rahul came out of Indian side.
When asked about the new teams, BCB chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said that he could not tell the name of new countries names at this moment.
The tournament will start from March 25 to April 5. Coxs Bazar and Dhaka will host all the matches. Two new teams have joined in place of UAE and Hong Kong but I could not name these two countries at the moment, said Nizam Uddin.
It is learnt from the BCB insider that Singapore and Oman are the newest teams of the tournament who showed their keen interests after the pullout of UAE and Hong Kong.
National selectors will announce Bangladesh preliminary squad for the Emerging Cup on March 2. Then they will launch their practice on March 10.
BCB selection panel chairman Minhajul Abedin Nannu in this regard said that they will announce the final squad after naming the ODI squad against Sri Lanka.
So far we have been confirmed a 22-member squad. Of them, four national teams players, who will have no age limit, could play the meet. In a sense, were taking some more times because we have not settled yet how many players we will bring back from the Test squad. There is a matter of age limit here along with set the combination, said Minhajul Abedin yesterday.
Actually we will get a clear picture after giving the squad for one day internationals series against Sri Lanka. We will announce our ODI squad on March 12. In that sense, were working for that. Well try to give the best possible squad for the tournament. Last year we had so many players in High Performance (HP) unit. Along with that, we have noted some players name from there. I think the combination in the team will be better, Nannu told media at the lounge of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
When asked about the squad, the selection panel chairman said, We have to look at our spin battery because the hot will be fallen at that time. We will form the team keeping the balance of the spin and pace.
We will go into our training process since March 10. We have a bit problem with the age limit. We are processing with their passport copy. Hopefully we could come to a conclusion within March 2, he added.
