Former Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar has expressed disbelief at the decision of his national cricket board to hand down 10-year bans to players who have joined the Indian Cricket League.

Bashar was among 13 top Bangladeshi cricketers to sign up for the maiden ICL tournament, which is not sanctioned by either the International Cricket Council or the Bangladesh Cricket Board. The BCB meted out the heavy suspensions to their players on Wednesday.

"It is really unexpected," Bashar, Bangladesh's highest run-scorer in Test cricket, told the Daily Star. "The 10-year suspension is too harsh. I can't believe it."

He added: "Hopefully we [the banned players] will meet to decide our next course of action. We may try to meet with the board officials to explain everything."