Shakib to be not allowed to play in LPL

On October 29, Shakib Al Hasan's one year ban will come to an end. Shakib has already started training since September 5 at his alma matter BKSP.

Despite Shakib being banned, he was in the radar of various franchise leagues across the world. Shakib's name was added to the auction list of Lanka Premier League (LPL) at the start of September. 

But despite his name being included, Shakib will not be allowed to play in that tournament. As the Sri Lanka tour has been postponed, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is planning to restart domestic cricket. Bangladeshi cricketers will be busy with domestic cricket in November and BCB wants Shakib to focus on the domestic arena. 

The LPL is set to kick off in November but it maybe postponed to January. And as there will be domestic cricket in November and West Indies are likely to tour Bangladesh in January, BCB President Nazmul Hassan is not seeing any possibility of Shakib playing in that tournament. There are also names of Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Rubel Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the LPL and the BCB President feels that they will also not play in that tournament.

Answering the question of whether Shakib would be given the 'No Objection Certificate (NOC)' to play the LPL, Nazmul said, "I don't see any possibility. Our league will start here by then."

A dispute over the quarantine period has seen Bangladesh's tour of Sri Lanka being postponed. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) informed in their final decision that Bangladesh would have to stay in quarantine for 14 days but BCB is unwilling to do so. This saw the tour being postponed indefinitely and BCB has asked SLC to schedule the series for later. 

The LPL's first edition was scheduled to kick off in August but the Covid-19 pandemic saw the tournament getting postponed by three months. The five-team tournament will start on November 14 and end on December 6. The 23 matches of the tournament will be played in Dambulla, Pallekele and Hambantota.