'Tendulkar, Warne have not respected cricket of our country'

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne may have been great players in cricket but have not shown due respect to Bangladesh cricket. This has been the belief of Naimur Rahman, the first Test captain of Bangladesh.

Speaking from Dhaka on Saturday morning, the former captain, who is now the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Director, Rahman said, "By not selecting any player from our country for the All-Stars matches, Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne have not shown respect to our cricket."

Read: I am done bowling against Sachin Tendulkar: Shoaib Akhtar

"We may not have produced Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara but have good players like Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mahmud, Akram Khan and Khaled Mashud. These are few of the great players our country has produced and few of them could have easily found place in the series," he added.

"We would not have been bothered if our player was not in the playing XI but at least they could have been in the team," Rahman pointed out. Interestingly, no player from Zimbabwe could also find a place in their elevens.

Also Read: Shoaib Akhtar hopes for Indo-Pak cricket series in December

According to sources close to Tendulkar, Shakib Al Hasan could have found place in the team. "Sachin had said that only Shakib Al Hasan could have found place in the team and no one else was in our mind. But since this is the series being played with former players, Shakib is already actively playing cricket for Bangladesh and could not be accommodated," said the source.

Shakib was recently in USA with his pregnant wife (Umme Ahmed Shishir) and wanted to be with her during delivery time but on a request by his wife, returned to Bangladesh to play against visiting Zimbabwe.

VVS Laxman, one of the members of Tendulkar's Sachin’s Blasters’ squad was to reach USA on Saturday morning to appear for the match in the evening. His visa problem got sorted out. Sourav Ganguly may leave after the BCCI's AGM on Monday and play the remaining two matches at Houston on Wednesday and at Los Angles on Saturday. There has been no match-referee, it is learnt here.

Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.