Bangladesh to wear special jersey to commemorate 50 years of independence
The BCB has finalised a specially-designed jersey for the Bangladesh team to commemorate the country's 50 years of independence this year, even as the board announced it would delay the announcement of central contracts till after the series against West Indies and New Zealand. According to cricket operations chairman Akram Khan, the jersey will be red and green in tune with the country's flag, and include freedom fighters and the national martyrs' memorial, a historical national monument in memory of those who were martyred for Bangladesh's freedom in the 1971 war of independence.
National Martyrs' Memorial, known in Bangla as the Jatiyo Sriti Soudho, is Bangladesh's national monument, built in memory of the martyrs of 1971.
"To celebrate fifty years of our independence, we have designed a special jersey," Khan said. "It is green and red, from our national flag. We have the celebration of our freedom fighters when victory was achieved in 1971, and we also have the Smrity Shoudho (national martyrs' memorial)," he said.
The BCB will also determine the 2021 central contracts after the West Indies and New Zealand series, according to Khan. He said that the delay, till at least March this year, to name the list of cricketers is due to the lack of cricket in 2020 when Bangladesh played only nine international matches because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Every year we look at performances before making the centrally contracted cricketers' list. I think we will take a decision this time based on the two upcoming series, because we haven't seen many performances till now. The decision will be made after discussing with the board of directors," Khan said.
Bangladesh go by the red-ball and white-ball contracts having established the contract system last year. Seven cricketers including Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim are in both contracts, while there are ten others who are on a single red or white-ball contract. The BCB also raised the match fees in all three formats, most significantly in Tests where it saw a 70% rise.
Akram also said that the BCB is trying to fit in as many of their postponed series from 2020 into an already busy 2021 schedule. "We don't have much time this year, an important one when our players will be very busy. After hosting West Indies, we go to New Zealand, and then Sri Lanka. We are also trying to play the postponed matches but time is of the essence for everyone this year."