Rafique to lead Bangladesh Legends in Road Safety World Series

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named a 13-member Bangladesh Legends squad for the upcoming Road Safety World Series-2021 on Thursday. Former spin all-rounder Mohammad Rafique will spearhead the Bangladesh Legends which was formed by the veteran’s Bangladesh cricketers. Apart from Rafique, former cricketers veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who recently joined in BCB as third selector with Minhajul Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar Sumon, coupled with Khaled Mashud Pilot, Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Javed Omar Belim, Rajin Saleh, Nafees Iqbal and Aftab Ahmed.

In addition, Bangladesh made a late entry and participated in the six-team tournament, where Bangladesh Legends got the opportunity to play in place of Australia, who withdrew the event due to Covid-19 restrictions. Bangladesh side will depart on February 28 to play the series. Everyone in the squad has to be corona negative before boarding the plane to India. After reaching there, the cricketers will have to stay in quarantine for two days. At the end of the two-day quarantine, the cricketers will play behind closed doors.

Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) newly appointed team selector and former left-arm spinner Razzak thrilled to be participating in such a tournament. “Of course it’s a good feeling, whatever the game is, it always feels good. I will be able to play with all the former players. I have played with almost all of them. It will be good to play again.” Razzak told the media.

Javed Omar and Rafique had a great time in recently concluded Legends Champions Trophy, who had a great time with bat and ball, Rafique was named as the best player of the tournament. Razzak believes that Bangladesh will get some extra benefits in the Road Safety World Series due to playing in the tournament. The former left-arm spinner thinks it will be a little difficult to implement a specific plan in the tournament. However, Razzak is hopeful to do well in the tournament.

“Actually, the plan is to win the match. The biggest thing is that most of them are not active in the game. Everyone has other work to do. In fact, it is a little difficult to implement it with a very specific plan. Even then I will try to play well.” Razzak added.

The tournament was postponed halfway due to the corona pandemic; the group stage of the tournament will start on March 5 and will conclude on March 16. After the group stage of the tournament, the top four teams will play in the semi-finals slated to be played on March 17 and 19, followed by the final on March 21. Former cricketers from India, West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and England will be seen playing in the upcoming tournament. However, the maiden edition of the Road Safety World Series, which was postponed at the halfway in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, is all set to restart from March 5 in Chhattisgarh, Raipur, India.

Bangladesh Legends Squad:

Mohammad Rafique (C), Javed Omar Belim, Khaled Mashud Pilot, Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Abdur Razzak, Mehrab Hossain Opi, Hannan Sarkar, Rajin Saleh, Nafees Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahman Babu, Mohammad Sharif, Alamgir Kabir.