The announcement was made by Tamim Iqbal during the Bangladesh–New Zealand ODI series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium press box in Mirpur. The BCB president wants to bring back the ball boy tradition from the Chattogram T20I series.
As part of that initiative, 22 ball boys are stationed along the boundary line for the first match of the three-match series on Monday at the Bir Shreshtha Shaheed Flight Lieutenant Motiur Rahman Cricket Stadium in Chattogram. Once, they were regularly seen along the boundary line, but this practice had been discontinued for a long time.
According to BCB sources, the 22 boys will be rotated throughout the match to collect the ball from the boundary and return it to the field. They were seen sitting in pairs at designated boundary regions such as deep third man, deep square leg, deep midwicket, and extra cover.
Regarding this, former captain Tamim wrote on his Facebook page on Monday, “I’ve never really liked the term ‘ball boy’ personally. They are our future, so I prefer to call them ‘future stars.’ I hope these young cricketers will be inspired by watching their favorite players, their dreams will grow bigger, and one day they will represent Bangladesh.”
Tamim himself once served as a ball boy. Recalling that memory, he added, “I was once like them — I too was a ‘ball boy.’”
