India offers 'active' support to Bangladesh

The BCCI says it will play an "active role" in helping Bangladesh cricket recover from the exodus of 13 top players who signed up for the unauthorised ICL.

Lalit Modi, BCCI vice-president, told Cricinfo the Indian board will include more Bangladesh players in the lucrative IPL next year, and include a team in the Champions Twenty20 League from 2010. Modi is the chairman of both these tournaments, which are backed by the BCCI.

Ahmed Sajjadul Alam, an executive member of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), had told Cricinfo on Wednesday that the board hoped the BCCI would help revive the game by inviting more players for these cash-rich tournaments. Alam was speaking after an emergency meeting of the BCB, which decided to ban the 13 'rebel' players from all forms of official cricket for 10 years.

"We will definitely play an active role in helping them out," Modi said. "We are looking at adding a few [Bangladesh] players for the next IPL auction. And we are also looking at a team from Bangladesh participating in the Champions League from 2010 onwards."

The next IPL auction is tentatively scheduled for January 29, about two months before the second season begins on April 10. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak is the only Bangladesh player currently in the IPL and he was signed up by Bangalore Royal Challengers for US$50,000. Although national boards don't get a share of IPL's revenues, they will receive a significant sum for participating in the Champions League, along with a separate participation fee for the domestic Twenty20 teams that are invited.

The ICC, meanwhile, said that any discussion on Bangladesh's Test future will have to be within the committee it had formed in July on unofficial cricket. "Any decision on this will be taken at the ICC board meeting and it will be the working party that will decide on such an issue," an ICC spokesperson said.

The ICC's committee is believed to have discussed the issue over the last few months although Modi, who is a member, declined to comment on the nature of those talks.