DHAKA, Nov 7, 2024 (BSS)-An initiative has been taken to find out cricketers 
from the grassroots level and thereby bolsters the country's cricketing 
pipeline through Zia Cricket Tournament, which set to start from November 10.

The tournament will see two teams from each 10 divisions will compete each 
other to qualify for the next round.

Then two teams from Dhaka-Dhaka North and Dhaka South will join the 10 
divisional teams to play the final round which will be held from January 16 
to 19.

The final will be held on January 19, the day when the country will celebrate 
the birth anniversary of the announcer of the country's independence Shaheed 
President Ziaur Rahman.

"The cricket got a shape in independent Bangladesh during the era of Shaheed 
President Ziaur Rahman. An MCC cricket team visited Bangladesh on January 7, 
1977 to play a three-day match against Bangladesh, and through this match, 
Bangladesh's journey to International cricket began," Former national 
football team captain Aminul Haque, the advisor of the tournament, said today 
in a press conference at a local hotel in the city.

 "The final match will be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium," he 
added.

Tournament's member secretary Debbrata Paul informed that the cricketers who 
will not be available for their divisional team's fixture in the ongoing 
National Cricket League (NCL) will take part in the tournament.

"Normally a divisional team is formed with 35 cricketers, and only 15 
cricketers were available to play the match. The rest of the 20 cricketers 
train with the team. So we have talked to the coaches and divisional 
authorities to make them available for us to play the tournament. If the 
divisional team or national cricket team call them up, we'll release them 
immediately," he informed.

Current and former national cricketers were invited to inaugurate the 
tournament in Bogra on November 10, the organizers said.

National opener Tamim Iqbal and former cricketers Mohammad Ashraful who is 
also in the tournament committee are expected to inaugurate the tournament.

"We want to keep the sports away from the politics. The ousted Awami League 
government politicized the sports fraternity completely and that's why the 
country's sports took a huge nosedive. We want to bring back the golden days 
of our sports and cricket," Aminul said, adding that the cricketers will 
given the facilities what a first class cricketer usually gets.