Sports Desk:

Bangladesh chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain said on Monday that he feels players should not play professional cricket and do politics at the same time.

He added that political parties should also think before picking any professional cricketer as it can hamper his playing career to some extent.

Mashrafee bin Mortaza started this trend of playing cricket and doing politics simultaneously while Shakib al Hasan followed his path in the recent past. Both were lawmakers of the Awami League in the last general election.

“The reform taking place now, obviously I believe that a process will determine whether someone can do politics while being in the national team,” said Ashraf.

“I want to give a message that reform has to take place in both places. Just as for the player on whether he can join politics while being a national team star, besides that the political sides should also rethink whether they should take someone aboard who is playing for the national team,” he said

“So it’s not a one-way traffic, you can’t blame a player only. Blame the political parties as well,” he added.