A senior official of the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday expressed his doubts over the timely start of the next edition of Bangladesh Premier League due to a change of format and the resulting chaos.
The seventh edition of BPL is scheduled to start on December 6, but BCB director Jalal Yunus said there could be a delay as they have decided to hold the upcoming edition without any involvement of franchisees.
‘We still kept December 6 as potential date, but I cannot say it for sure now,’ said Jalal, who is also a member of BPL’s governing council.
‘Since it started getting late it is tough to say how late it will be. I also have doubt if it will start on the stipulated day. Many things are yet to be done and only after that we can give a [fresh] date for starting the tournament,’ he said.
The BCB last month announced to host the tournament by itself with the help of sponsor partners as it failed to resolve the issues with franchises, who had demanded a share of revenue among others.
The BCB also decided to rename the next edition as Bangabandhu BPL, marking the birth centenary of country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
‘Last year it was franchise-based. This time it will be held with sponsor partner, so many things have to be changed,’ said Jalal, adding that they already got some response from the potential sponsor partners after putting out an advertisement.
‘The advertisement that we put seeking sponsors got response from five to six people…we have to sit with the sponsor. Before we sit with them we have to decide among us,’ he said.
‘There is not much time left. The draft was supposed to be held in the middle of this month. After we decide the format, draft was supposed to be held.
‘Hopefully everything will be done very quickly. After sitting with BCB president we will announce the date of the draft,’ added the BCB official.
-new age
Discussion about this post