Former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful, considered as the country’s first poster boy in cricket, insisted that he has the faith on his skill and fitness, which is imperative to continue playing cricket.
Ashraful went through a beep test on Monday, conducted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and scored 11.4, a shed better than the benchmark which is 11.
The beep test was held to decide the players eligibility to play the upcoming Bangabandhu T20 Cup, which is the second tournament the BCB is organizing amid Covid-19 pandemic.
Five teams will play for the championship title in the tournament for which the Players Draft will be held on November 12.
Ashraful is confident that he would contribute if picked by a side in the T20 tournament.
“I am very confident. The way I am thinking at the moment is that I want to begin everything afresh fitness and skill-wise. I didn’t think in the last eight or nine months that I will reach the level I have reached in terms of fitness and skill,” Ashraful said on Monday.
Ashraful was banned from cricket for some years for his involvement in spot fixing in BPL.
He said, he wants to concentrate on the present and start everything anew, forgetting the past. He also said that he is looking to match the fitness levels of much younger cricketers in order to reassert himself.
“Forgetting my past, I am undergoing fitness training with U-23 players and trying to match their levels of fitness, that’s what I have been trying for the past eight or nine months,” he said.
“In the last two months, I have been trying to play and do fitness training as much as I can. I am doing it on my own initiative. Since I had played International cricket so I know what facilities I should have to play on this level,” he added.
He however also rued for not getting enough training facilities as a cricket outside of the national team.
“Actually, we Dhaka guys are a bit unlucky. It’s been 20 years since Bangladesh got Test status but we Dhaka guys have to arrange for our training by ourselves since there is only one indoor facility and there the national team, HP and women’s team and U-19s train. But the first-class cricketers and up and coming cricketers have less opportunity,” he remarked.
