Sports Desk:

Bangladesh Cricket Board on Friday was accused of making two domestic coaches scapegoats after it had withdrawn them from National Cricket League for failing to field a leg-spinner in their respective divisional teams in the opening round match.

BCB officials confirmed Dhaka division head coach Jahangir Alam and Rangpur division head coach Masud Pervez were stripped off duties for not following the board instructions while selecting the starting line-up.

Dhaka did not field leg-spinner Jubair Hossain against Chittagong while Rangpur ignored Rishad Hossain in the starting line-up against Khulna in their first-round matches that ended on October 13.

BCB president Nazmul Hasan on Thursday revealed that there was clear instruction on the coaches to field a leg-spinner as  Bangladesh were desperately looking  to find a quality leggie for the national team.

Two teams – Chittagong and Dhaka Metropolis – obliged readily by handing debut to leg-spinners Minhajul Abedin and Aminul Islam respectively in the first and second round matches of the tournament.

Sacked Dhaka coach Jahangir denied having any instruction from the board and added that he was not given a chance to defend himself.

‘We have been dropped before we could meet the BCB,’ Jahangir told reporters. ‘We had captain, vice-captain, team-manager and myself involved in team selection. They did not want to play a leg-spinner so I did not field one. I told captain to play a leg-spinner but he did not agree. It’s not me alone responsible for it,’ said Jahangir.

Jahangir indicated that the leg-spinner they had in the team (Jubair) he was not doing well in the training.

‘We had a leg-spinner but he was not doing well.  That’s why none wanted to play him. We were considering him for the next round,’ he said.

All-rounder Shuvagata Hom led Dhaka in the first round but stepped aside in the second round for Nadif Chowdhury. BCB officials, however, said Shuvagata’s decision had nothing to do with leg-spinner row as Nadif was always tipped to lead the side.

Shuvagata took the charge in the first round because Nadif failed to score enough in the beep test and thus had been ruled out.

Sacked Rangpur coach Masud Parvez was not available for comments but the decision to remove him from the coaching role left some of the players surprised.

A senior Rangpur cricketer asking not to be named said Masud could not be held responsible for not playing Rishad because the player was not even in their 14-man squad.

‘How can a coach play someone who is not in the original squad?’ asked the player.

‘Selectors had picked the squad and coach had to make the XI out this. It’s surprising to see him getting sacked for not playing a player outside the squad,’ he added.

The Rangpur cricketer pointed out that even if Rishad was in the squad it would not have been easy to play him.

‘We have already one leg-spinner in the side in Tanbir Hayder and he played our both games. Even yesterday he bowled around 25 overs. So you cannot blame the coach for not picking a leg-spinner when you are already playing another one.

‘It seemed the decision was made whimsically without considering all aspects. But you cannot run a first-class competition with someone’s whim,’ he said.