Covid controversy on the very first day of BCL

After a one-year break due to Covid-19, the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL), the franchise-based longer version tournament in the country, started on Sunday. But the tournament was hit by controversy on the first day itself as Walton Central Zone's Abdul Mazid tested positive for Covid-19 but the team claimed that the player tested negative in a rapid antigen test.

According to the tournament protocol, Mazid was not allowed to take part in the match between BCB North Zone and Central Zone. On the night before the match, samples were collected from the cricketers. The results came out on Sunday morning and Mazid tested positive. But he is asymptomatic and the team informed that he was fit.

After the results came out on Sunday morning, Central Zone had Mazid undergo a rapid antigen test and the opening batter tested negative. But still he was not allowed to play. As per the protocols, if a player has Covid-19 symptoms, he must be separated from the other squad members. And if he tests positive, he must isolate himself for ten days.

Therefore, he cannot participate in the first round of the BCL. But if he does not have any symptoms between the seventh and tenth day, Mazid can join the team. That means if Mazid is asymptotic on 18 December, he can participate in the second round of the tournament starting on 19 December. 

Mazid was in phenomenal form in the recently concluded National Cricket League (NCL), scoring 521 runs at an average of 43.2 with the help of four fifties and a hundred.