BCB hopeful to host BPL on time despite doubts
Image : BCB
||CF Correspondent ||
The Bangladesh Cricket Board official said on Monday that they are hopeful of hosting Bangabandhu Premier League on time despite doubts were raised about its future.
BCB has decided to shelve the seventh edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament, country’s lone franchise-based tournament, which was scheduled to start in December this year.
BCB in a surprise move earlier this month came with the decision to not involve the franchises for the seventh edition of BPL T20 which is to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Instead, the BCB will hold a T20 tournament managed by the BPL Governing Council, a model similar to that of the Big Bash T20 in Australia. The T20 tournament for the season will be named after Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to mark his 100th birthday.
None of the six exiting franchises have dropped EOI (Expression of Interest) to participate in the ‘special edition’ of the BPL T20 take part in the upcoming edition of the tournament as ‘team sponsors’, said Bangladesh Cricket Board sources on Tuesday.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan Papon citied earlier that have opted not to include the franchises in the upcoming edition of BPL as they had a difference of opinion with them.
According to Nazmul there is not enough time in hand to implement new tournament by-laws and as a result, they have decided that they will include the franchises in the when they resume the second cycle of the tournament in 2020-21 season.
BCB had decided to bring in ‘sponsors’ for the team and that the board would single-handedly manage both the tournament and guide the teams. EOI for a Team Sponsor was floated on September 17 with a deadline of September 22.
There was high-scale speculation that some of the existing franchises would participate in the tournament by applying for the team sponsorship right but it seemed that was not the case despite the deadline for submitting for sponsorship ended on September 22.
Meanwhile, BCB is yet to set a new bylaw for the lone edition of the Bangabandhu BPL and if insiders are to be believed they have a lot of work to do that includes finishing off the draft by this month while finalizing the bylaws and the playing condition as well.
Despite all these uncertainties, BPL technical committee chairman Jalal Yunus looked optimistic.
‘’We have strong intention to start the special BPL on December 6. The BCB is already working with ambition to meet the schedule. The CEO [Nizamuddin Chowdhury] and different managers of the board have been involved to prepare the structure to execute the tournament. They are at the moment doing the homework. Soon the plans will be set and we will sit with the companies that have shown interest to be team sponsors,” said Jalal who is also a member of the BPL GC.
The board of sudden took the massive responsibility of arranging the tournament single handedly and raise a portion of the team operation cost involving sponsors.
Slow progress in organization had ignited doubts if the tournament will start as per the schedule. Doubts got heavier with unavailability of BPL Governing Council [BPL GC] chairman Sheikh Sohel and member secretary Ismail Haider Mallick. Both Sohel and Mallick’s absence from the board has been unknown.
Jalal informed that the board cannot be at standstill with absence of some members and that he is confident of the tournament starting as per the schedule. But for that the groundwork should be completed on time.
“I cannot tell their [Sohel and Mallick] whereabouts and I should not be knowing that to be honest. They have been away from the country for personal reasons and their unavailability shall not affect the preparation of the tournament,” said the BCB director.
It is understood that with two key members of the BPL GC missing for an unexplained reason, BCB president Nazmul Hasan has taken the charge of organizing the season of the BPL which he had announced will mark 100th birthday of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujiur Rahman.
Jalal informed strong involvement of the BCB boss in organizing the tournament this season.
“President [Nazmul] has taken the charge to organise and decide on the tournament this year. He will oragnise the tournament along with the BPL GC.
“Once the paper works are done, we can come to the execution of the tournament. The board President is well informed on the progress. Most possibly within a week we can come to decisions,” the BCB director explained.
The BCB is considering to offer the overseas cricketers that had signed directly with the ‘franchises’, to participate in the special edition of the Bangladesh Premier League T20.
The BCB amid discussions with the existing BPL franchises had come to the decision of holding ‘special edition of BPL’ and not involve any franchise for the season. This had left a long list of famed overseas cricketers in a puzzle given that they had already signed with different teams for the season.
Jalal informed the tournament format is being kept the same as the previous editions. And in case of the overseas cricketers that have been signed directly by the franchises, the board will offer them to participate in the tournament if they are available. The seventh edition of the BPL T20 is scheduled to begin on December 6 this year
“The format will be similar to those we have seen in the last few editions of the tournament. Four overseas players will be allowed to field. There a few overseas cricketers that were signed with the franchises we can offer them to play this edition of the tournament if they are free,” Jalal concluded.
