||CF Correspondent ||

The special edition of the Bangladesh Premier League T20 to mark the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is all set to raise its curtain through a grand opening ceremony amid huge enthusiasm and much fanfare at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

This is notably the first program to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, for which the Government has taken various steps.

Both local and Bollywood stars will ignite the Dhaka night to kick-start the tournament, namely Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BBPL). Country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave her consent to inaugurate the 40-day long spectacle.

The tournament proper, with the participation of seven teams, will roll onto the ground from Wednesday at the home of cricket.

In the sidelines of the preparation for the ceremony at the center ground and surrounding, the teams were found busy attending their initial practice sessions at the BCB Academy Ground on Saturday. None of the overseas players have however joined the teams yet. It is understood that the overseas players will start reporting to their respective teams from Sunday.   

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif is being seen as the main attraction of the ceremony that is going to last for almost five-long-hours. The gate will open at 2.30 PM while the program starts at 4.30 PM.

The program has been set in two parts with the opening to the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League T20 to be declared by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at around 7pm. Bangladesh star singers in shape of James, Momtaz and others will rule the rooster in the first part while the second part will take care by the entertainers like Sonu Nigam, Kailash Kher from Bollywood along with hugely popular Salman, Katrina.

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan Papon earlier said that Gazi TV, Massranga TV and News24 will be the three channels that will telecast the opening ceremony.

‘’There will be three TV channels Gazi and Massranga along with New24,’’ Nazmul told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.

‘’Basundhara is our sponsor in the opening ceremony so we are giving them[ News24] an opportunity to telecast the program,’’ he said.

BCB firstly released around 5,000 tickets for the general public among the 8,000 seating capacity for the gala event. The remaining 3,000 tickets are to be given as complimentary to different organizations affiliated to the BCB.

But due to the increasing demand, the BCB decided to include a new seating category, namely ‘on-ground’ to accommodate more spectators.

The most expensive tickets are the front row seats, which cost Tk 10,000 while the newly introduced on-ground seating ticket price is Tk 5,000. The cost of grandstand tickets are Tk 2,500 each and clubhouse tickets will cost Tk 1,000.

BCB president said in a thankful tone that opening ceremony sponsor Basundhara is providing all the expenses of the program that required around TK12 Crores.

‘’It hard to tell about it [budget].  Because the tournament is named after Bangabandhu, so we are not thinking too much about the budget. And sponsor is bearing it whole,’’ Papon.

The BCB would install giant screen in seven divisions of the country along with crucial places of Dhaka like TSC and other areas to give the people an opportunity to watch the gala opening ceremony.

‘’We are not able to give the opportunity to come inside the ground because the demand is huge. The demand is more than one lac. From my side, there are minimum 10-12 thousands. Apart from that, we have found out some points. It will be screened in seven divisions in giant screens,’’ he added.

‘’We are arranging it. We have fixed some points in Dhaka. We will screen in TSC, Gulshan or Banani Club, at Rabindra Sarabor in Dhanmondi,’’ he said.

‘’The audience is huge in Mirpur. Here we are arranging in City Club ground and we are trying to arrange in different places of Dhaka and it won’t minimize the attraction,’’ he said.

‘’It is not possible to bring so many audience inside the field,’’ he added.

BBPL Opening Ceremony Event Flow

The program starts at 4 PM and finishes at 11 PM.

Here’s the major event flow of the grand opening ceremony as revealed by BPL governing council chairman Sheikh Sohel.

BBPL Event Flow

2.30PM: Gate Open

5.00 PM: National anthem

5.25 PM: Performance by Moidul Islam Khan ‘dRockstar’ Shuvo