No Bangladesh Premier League This Year, Confirms BCB Chief

Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will not take place this year, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan announced on Sunday. Competitive cricket finally resumed in Bangladesh after a gap of six months with the three-team 50-over tournament. The first match of the competition took place on Sunday.

Players from Bangladesh national team, High-Performance Unit and selected members of the 2020 ICC Under-19 World Cup champion squad are featuring in the tournament. But while BCB has taken its first big step towards resumption of the game in its backyard, there is no chance of BPL taking place this year as the country attempts to come out of the COVID-19 crisis.

“BPL is not happening this year,” Nazmul told reporters at the launch of the 50-over tournament at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. “Let’s see it in next year. We do not want to miss any game but everything will depend on the situation and circumstances.

“Because whenever there is talk of BPL, there must be foreign cricketers. At the same time there is the matter of production. Now if we can do those in Bangladesh then we have no objection. But it is a little bigger arrangement because of the number of players there and the team management are much higher. I don’t know if we are able to handle that or not,” he said.

The BCB chief also ruled out the slim possibility of hosting the franchise-based T20 tournament abroad. Nazmul made it clear that the BCB does not have the budget to host the tournament outside Bangladesh before revealing that he was yet to have an official word with the franchises.

“I don’t think it will be easy (organize the tournament outside). I tell you, when we go to run in Bangladesh (BPL), except for one or two franchises, the rest of us have a hard time to play the tournament.

“I heard it today the bio-security belt has to be created outside say in the UK and even in Dubai for the IPL as well and I don’t think it is possible for anyone. It is almost impossible for us to spend so much money,” he added.

In August, the Caribbean Premier League became the first-high profile T20 tournament to take place amid the pandemic. At present, the Indian Premier League is going on in UAE due to the alarming coronavirus condition in India. On the other hand, international cricket resumed in July when England hosted West Indies before hosting Ireland, Pakistan as well as Australia.

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