No BPL this year: BCB president
Nazmul Hasan Papon is doubtful about the possibility of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) making way this year. With the coronavirus still surging and other management issues during this outbreak, the chance seems very low for country's biggest franchise tournament taking place this year.
The long wait has finally come to an end. What stopped back in March due to the coronavirus outbreak has resumed in Mirpur. The BCB President's Cup kicked-off yesterday where Mahumudullah XI and Najmul XI faced each other. Najmul XI came out victorious in the opening match, but the bigger news was cricket's return after a long unprecedented break.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is now planning to take a step forward and organise even bigger competitions once the President's Cup ends. A corporate T20 tournament possibly of five teams is in their plan. Then, the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) may also resume. Board president, Nazmul Hasan Papon said yesterday that this President's Cup is only the first step towards returning to competitive cricket. He is hopeful of making the upcoming T20 tournament even bigger and better.
But Nazmul Hasan Papon is doubtful about the possibility of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) making way this year. With the coronavirus still surging and other management issues during this outbreak, the chance seems very low for country's biggest franchise tournament taking place this year.
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"No chance of BPL this year. We will see what we can do next year. We do not want to miss any tournament, but everything now depends on the situation. We have few issues to look into to organise BPL - the foreign players, production management - these will be tough in the current situation," Papon told the media last night.
The board president further added that there is currently no franchise in contact with the organisers, so it is still a confusion whether the upcoming BPL season will be franchise based or not.
The question arises whether it is possible to organise the BPL abroad, maybe in Dubai just like the Indian Premier League (IPL) is being played. Papon said it will be very difficult and very unlikely. "It is nearly impossible. Most of our franchises, except one or two, face difficulties to run their teams in Bangladesh, how will they do it abroad? Now every team will have to create their own biosecure bubble, the maintenance cost will be much higher. It will be impossible for most of them. I honestly do not see any possibility of that happening," Papon added.
The latest season of BPL was named Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019. Rajshahi Royals are the current champions.
