Bangladesh Cricket Board Postpone BPL to January 2019 Due to Elections
Published - 30 Jul 2018, 02:52 PM | Updated - 22 Aug 2024, 11:54 PM
The sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has been postponed to 5th January. The officials of BPL broke the news on Sunday following the decision from Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
The announcement was made following a meeting between the Governing Council members and the representatives of the Twenty20 league.
The board meeting was held in Mirpur The BPL is the sole T20 competition which is being held in the country every year. The general elections in the country will be held from December 2018.
Hence, they have decided this particular time frame for the tournament. The final of the tournament will be played on 8th February.
“We want to organize the next edition of BPL from January 5 to February 8. As per our knowledge, the next general election is expected to commence in the last week of December. Hence we have decided this time-frame for our upcoming edition of BPL,” Cricbuzz quoted technical committee chairman of BPL, Jalal Younus as saying.
The player drafts will be completed until October:
“Before that, we want to complete the players draft in October though we are yet to finalize its date,” he further added.
The tournament was earlier slated to be played in October. However, the BCB had to postpone the tournament. It has been done in order to provide adequate security for the tournament.
Bangladesh has instead decided to host African minnows Zimbabwe in a three-match One-day International series and a couple of Tests.
The general elections will be held in December. Hence the organisers are not quite confident about providing adequate security. The tournament will coincide with the elections.
Hence, the decision was taken. The tournament has now been shifted to 5th January to 8th February. Many several security agencies have confirmed their unavailability for the tournament. The sole reason is the clash of dates with the elections.
As per reports in the Cricbuzz, it is further learnt that the franchises were not interested in playing the BPL tournament during October. Most of the officials will be busy with the general elections which eventually pushed Bangladesh Cricket Board to take a decision.
