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The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is planning to skip the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2026, which generally starts in December and ends in January. It is the marquee franchise tournament of the nation, which has given some entertainment to the fans, and will not be played later this year. This is not good news for Bangladesh cricket fans.
As per the reports from Prothom Alo, the BCB is thinking that if they do not find any kind of good franchises and quality of cricket can not be ensured, the board will skip a season and reconstruct the league. However, since its beginning, it has not brought a good name to the country, and Tamim Iqbal's current board does not want to earn a new 'bad name'.
BPL franchises have not cleared payments
Nearly everyone in the BCB management is accepting the discontinuation of BPL for this season as it has caused financial strain on the BCB and damaged the nation's reputation with weak franchises. The board wants to ensure that there is no issue at all, even if the competition is staged again with a new name and identity.
A BCB source highlighted the negative side of the BPL. As he said, the franchises do not pay the full amount to the players for whom they are bought to play the tournament, and then the BCB have to pay the rest of the money.
The BCB source said, "In the BPL, BCB has to pay almost the entire player payment of one or two teams. Franchise owners call players at whatever price they want."
"They call a player for 5 lakh taka for 50 lakh taka and then do not pay the money. All these responsibilities are left on the shoulders of the cricket board. Again, almost all of the money that comes from selling TV rights goes to production costs. What is the benefit of doing this BPL?"
"We will try our best to organize the tournament"- Fahim Sinha update on next BPL
BPL Governing Council Chairman Fahim Sinha is still optimistic that the BPL will happen. He believes that the tournament will get some better franchises and they will also give a season break as well.
However, his words had a different tone: "We will try our best to organize the tournament with good franchises. If not, then maybe we will give a season break."
He also said that several good organizations have expressed interest in taking ownership of franchises this time. The Governing Council head also ruled out the possibility of changing the name of 'BPL' in the future.
Spot-fixing in BPL caused a bad name
Previously, there were spot-fixing allegations in the BPL almost every season. Along with that, there were some factors, including the unpaid debts of both domestic and international players, conflicts between the BCB and franchises, and the unprofessional conduct of franchises.
After the reports of spot-fixing in the 2024 edition of the BPL, former Appellate Division judge Mirza Hossain Haider led the case, and it was stated that these issues should be resolved before planning the following edition.
