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African players might miss Bangladesh Premier League T20 and Bangladesh Premier League football as the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has put an embargo on their entry to thwart the spread of the new Covid-19 virus variant named Omicron.
Two cricketers of the Bangladesh Women’s National Cricket team were found carrying the Omicron variant and now they are under isolation, said Bangladesh Cricket Board physician Debashish Chowdhury.
“The two cricketers are in isolation but their health conditions are steady, they are not in need of medical attention at this moment. Both the players received a double dose of vaccination” he told The Business Post.
The women’s team went to Zimbabwe to take part in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier, but the tournament was called off midway due to the infection of the new covid-19 variant, Omicron.
CAAB issued a circular on December 2 where they said “From 1200 BST on 04 December until further notice, all incoming passengers originated/transited/visited Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe within the last 14 days, shall have to complete a mandatory 14 days quarantine at government-nominated hotels at passenger’s own expense”.
Bangladesh Cricket Board is going to host the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League T20 2022 from January 20 tentatively and the Bangladesh Premier League football is also supposed to kick off at the same time.
In the previous editions of both the tournaments, a number of players from Africa took part but in the coming editions, the scenario might get changed for the Omicron variant which broke out in the African region.
Comilla Victorians, a franchise interested to take part in the upcoming BBPL T20, has already signed South African cricketer Faf Du Plessis to play for their team.
The owner of the franchise, Nafisa Kamal told the media that they have secured the service of former South Africa captain for the upcoming edition of BBPL T20, “We have confirmed Sunil Narain, Faf Du Plesis, and Moeen Ali for the first season. According to the BCB guidelines, we can sign three foreign players outside of the draft and we did that”, she said on Saturday. Faf Du Plessis has never played in the BPL before, the South African batsman who was the man of the match of the last IPL final could be a huge attraction for the local cricket enthusiasts but the CAAB embargo might make things difficult for him.
Not only Du Plessis, many other cricketers from South Africa and Zimbabwe like Riley Rousseau, Ryan Burl, and Sikandar Raza also took part in this T20 league and former Protea cricketers Herchele Gibbs and Lance Klusener also participated as the coaching staff.
If the government carries on the isolation process for the people coming from South Africa or Zimbabwe, they might not get interested to play in this tournament.
BCB Physician Debashish told The Business Post that the board is not likely to get involved in this issue, “This is not a BCB issue. The main thing is what will be the government’s guideline at the time of that particular player’s arrival. The government guidelines change very frequently, it changes every week. At present, there is an embargo for a South African player. No South African citizen can come at this moment. But maybe that will not be the case a month later. We have to proceed according to the government’s guidelines at that time,” he said.
Previously, the BCB requested the health authorities of the country to reduce the quarantine period of some persons, who were members of the national team coaching staff but Debashish said that the board will not be going to do it for BPL bound cricketers.
“The government will not allow the citizens or travellers from the red-list countries to enter Bangladesh. And if we see that the government will not allow them to enter, we will not approach them”, he said.
“As for Bangladesh national team, we sought exemptions from the health officials because of national interest but the BPL is not the national team. It is a franchise league. If a franchise applies to the government and the government allows them, then it may happen. But the board will not do anything”, he added.
The BCB is yet to disclose the names of the six franchises for the BBPL T20 2022, but some of the franchises have received a nod from the board and they are assembling their squads, but the Omicron outbreak might put them into big trouble. The ongoing Big Bash League will end on January 28, 2022; the Pakistan Super League will start from January 27, 2022, and the Emirates Premier League is also set to roll from January 2022; therefore, very few international cricketers will be available to play in the BBPL T20.
With the current instructions from the government which imposes a lengthy quarantine for the players coming from South Africa and Zimbabwe, it will be more difficult for the franchise owners to sign foreign cricketers.
Not only cricketers but also a number of African footballers also come to play in the Bangladesh Premier League football and as the new season is going to start from the middle of January 2022, they might miss out if the government instructions do not change.
“We haven’t fixed the procedure for African players yet. We are discussing it with the medical team. I think we will be following the general procedure implemented by the government of being in isolation and being tested for Covid-19. If someone has symptoms, then they will be tested immediately and be kept in isolation until they test negative”, said Md Abu Nayeem, General Secretary of Bangladesh Football Federation.
About taking preventive measures for the footballers coming from Africa, the BFF general secretary said, “That is not exactly our duty to bring the players, but we will help the clubs as much as we can about bringing the players. I don’t think it will be right to break the rules set by the government, but we will see what we can do”, Nayeem told The Business Post.
