The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews, Dhaka

Habibul Bashar and his team left Tuesday for India to play the ICL (Indian Cricket League) World Series as the ICL Bangladesh XI.

He said they were setting their sights on the final.

"After having played the ICL, the spirits of players are high and they are dreaming of playing the final in the tour-team competition," Bashar told reporters at Zia International Airport in the morning.

He said they had received great support from Bangladeshi fans who had watched all their ICL matches on television at home.

The support had inspired them a lot and would spur them on in the World Series, the former Bangladesh captain said.

Some 14 rebel cricketers took part in the breakaway Indian Cricket League as Dhaka Warriors and subsequently were banned for 10 years by Bangladesh Cricket Board.

They, however, performed well to win four out of eight outings only to miss the semifinals narrowly and finished fifth among nine teams.

This time, Bashar and Co. will play as ICL Bangladesh XI along with ICL India XI, ICL Pakistan XI and ICL World XI.

The league-basis series begins on Nov. 23 with India XI taking on Pakistan XI in the opener in Ahmedabad.

Bangladesh begin their campaign against World XI on Nov. 25. They play against Pakistan and India on Nov. 27 and 28 respectively.

Opener Nazimuddin and spinner Mosharraf Hossain Rubel said it would not be hard for them to get to the final if they could take the ICL momentum into the world series.

Nazimuddin had scored 173 in eight matches while left-arm spinner Rubel grabbed 10 wickets from eight games.

Aftab Ahmed and Shahriar Nafees, however, reiterated their desire to play for the national team.

"Sri Lanka and Pakistan are strongly thinking to lift the ban on those cricketers who joined ICL from the respective countries and Bangladesh should reconsider the decision," said Nafees.

He said he wanted to play cricket wherever it was. "I will always say that I want to play for the national team and the board should review their decision," said Aftab.