BPL franchise should have fan base- Rohit
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|| CF Correspondent ||
India star opener Rohit Sharma thinks that the franchise of Bangladesh Premier League [BPL] should create a fan base by taking a few star players in their team for some years.
In a Facebook live session with opener of Bangladesh Tamim Iqbal, Rohit Sharma who is the skipper of Mumbai Indians a franchise based team of the Indian Premier League [IPL] cricket's most lucrative and highest-profile tournament expressed his thought about BPL that if a franchise doesn't have a core player with them for a long time then they might lose their fan base, which is not good for a tournament like this.
In the chit-chat session among the two openers of two countries, Tamim told to Rohit that unlike IPL, BPL don't have a settled fan base as in every second or third year the core players are changing teams which is creating a fuss among fans also.
Rohit Sharma also showed his concern about it and told that having a core player playing for a particular franchise team for a long time does create a good amount of fan base and the fans do support that team with a passion. But if the player moves around franchise to franchise in every other season then the fan base will disappear also.
"Yeah it's important, you see that's how you create a fan base also and Bangladesh is a very very passionate country about cricket, I mean I have never seen any country being so passionate about cricket like Bangladesh, honestly speaking. So, I think if you create that excitement within the fans with certain players staying with the certain franchise for so many years the fan base will also increase and you know the fans will look forward to going and supporting their team with that same passion," Rohit Sharma also said that the Bangladesh Cricket Board should take some steps to make the franchise have some core players in their team for a longer period of time for the betterment of the tournament and also for the fans.
"Yeah, so let's say for an example if you and few other you guys are playing for Dhaka for so many years, and you know BCB should try and do something that the core players, like few players, two or three players not more but two or three players at least stay in that franchise somehow. Otherwise, the excitement within the fans will disappear. Because if suddenly they are supporting this team and then they get to know, okay you have gone to another team and then they have to start supporting the other time," he added.
The right-handed opener also said that the fans are the most important parts of any sports and if a player or a sports concern don't look after them then the fans will also not look after either. Which is why IPL is doing very well as the franchise maintained their fan base.
"Exactly, when we play a sport you know it's also we need to remember that the fans are those who make the sports so interesting for the world. Any sport you talk about its not just cricket. It's any sport. Fans are so important to us and if you don't look after them well they are not going to look after you, it's as simple as that," he added.
"I think you have to create that excitement, which is why IPL has done that very well. Like few players from few franchise has managed to stay in that franchise for a number of years so that the fan base remains. It's not disappearing in that way," he concluded.
