While the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFB) made their presence felt by digging up the wickets of the country's premier venue on the day they took permanent possession, some cricketers, fans and officials staged a token hunger strike outside in protest at the government decision to shift cricket to the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

According to Reuters, former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud was also joined the protest in the afternoon. But the 33-year-old all-rounder denied taking part in the hunger strike.

"I went to the stadium to practice as usual and also had a few words with a group of protesters. But for obvious reasons I did not take part in the hunger strike nor did I sign anything," said Mahmud to The Daily Star Sport last night.

Mahmud is one of the cricketers on the Board's payroll.

While Mahmud showed no emotion seeing cricket's last rites being written at the venue where he started his playing career and which has hosted 17 Tests and 58 one-day internationals, another former Bangladesh captain Raquibul Hasan could not hide his frustration.

"As a cricketer it was painful to see that the pitches at the Bangabandhu National Stadium being dug up in front of my own eyes," said Raquibul, who came to the venue.

But a BFF official said they were in no hurry to excavate the pitch but were only acting at the request of the cricket authorities.

"We wanted to take some more time but the cricket board had asked for the soil of the pitches so that it could be used at Mirpur and that's why we are uprooting it to avoid further damag," said BFF deputy secretary Monjur Hossain Malu.