‘If you think about profiting from BPL, you have come to the wrong place’

Things are not going well for Sylhet Strikers, as they sit at the bottom of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) table and are the only team without a win in the 10th edition of the tournament.

Led by Mashrafe Mortaza, whose sage-like presence helped the team to a final in the last edition has not had the same effect this time around. 

The team's owners though have backed the most successful ODI captain in Bangladesh cricket history and even called him the 'father of the team'. 

Co-owner and Director of Sylhet Strikers, Jaglul-Huda Mithu spoke with The Business Standard about the team's future plans, what their long-term goals are, and future plans in an exclusive interview. 

Explaining Sylhet's poor start in the tournament, Mithu takes the philosophical route saying, "There will be wins and losses in a match. It's part and parcel of cricket. Every start is not going to be the same and nor will the ending be the same. But what we are looking for is 100% effort and thankfully, that's what we've got." 

Sylhet's chances of reaching the final this time seem like a far cry and even making the qualifiers of the tournament, where they will need to finish in the top four, are looking very unlikely.

"The aim for every team should be to win the tournament. Now we have to take it step-by-step and see what we can do, how far we can go and if we can reach the qualifiers first," Mithu said.

With inflation and rising costs, Mithu explains that maintaining a BPL franchise becomes more expensive with every passing year. 

But he does feel that the pool of foreign players to pick from has decreased due to three other franchise T20 tournaments happening at the same time. 

"We have to be firstly thankful that we at least have a T20 franchise tournament. Something is better than nothing, so Alhamdullilah (thank God) for that! Having said that, it would have been better if the BPL happened at a time when so many other tournaments weren't happening, it would have been better." 

Franchise owners in the BPL have all spoken about having a team not being profitable and that they're in this for the love of the game and Mithu echoed those words too.

"All of our businesses are abroad and we have a cricket team in the US too where we invest without profit. So with Sylhet, the idea was to have an investment at home since we love cricket. There is a long-term plan and we cannot expect immediate returns. Hopefully, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the BPL governing body also come up with things to make the tournament better."

Mithu feels that it's 'impossible' to make a profit from the BPL as things stand but he revealed that they have a team of financial experts who are working on a plan that they will present at the end of the season to make things more financially viable.

"We also need to become more polished overall as a team. As you can see, how we unveiled the jersey this time and got the sponsors involved, is something that has not been done before. If you think about making a profit from the BPL, then you won't be able to stay here and you have come to the wrong place. You will have to think outside the box and we are planning to do that. We are working on opening up an academy so let's see." 

The academy Mithu spoke about is in the works and he says that's their 'main goal', as that can help develop new players and that can help the team with players, and the money from that can also boost the franchise. 

"We held a pacer and a spinner hunt at the beginning of the tournament, and the coaches are looking to groom them not only for a month before the tournament, but throughout the year as well," he revealed.

Although Mashrafe has left the team after five matches to fulfil his parliament duties, Mithu is grateful for his job as captain and how he has overseen everything for Sylhet.

"Captaincy aside, he has helped in linking us up with the right people for the right job and he is guiding us through everything. In a way, Mashrafe's involved with everything and is like the father of the team," he concluded