Smith barred from Bangladesh T20 league

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Cricket Board said on Thursday it has barred former Australian captain Steve Smith from the forthcoming Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament following an objection raised by some franchises.

Smith, serving a one-year ban from international cricket and Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield and Big Bash League, had signed for Comilla Victorians to play in the next edition of the BPL starting on January 5.

He was expected to join the team in mid-January for the second phase of the BPL as a replacement for Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.“The rule of the tournament is that if a franchise takes a replacement, his name should be in the list of initial players’ draft. But Smith’s name was not there, “ said BCB chief Nizamuddin Chowdhury.“Some franchises raised objection about it. So we have to bar him from playing the BPL,” he said.