It’s a month and a half until the first ball will be bowled, but the seventh edition of the Bangladesh Premier League is already generating plenty of intrigue.
In the aftermath of arguments between the Bangladesh Cricket Board and franchise owners, the BCB have assumed complete ownership of the tournament, including all seven teams, changed the pay structure drastically, and implemented a new set of rules governing team selection which are already having wide-reaching consequences.
According to BCB president Nazmul Hassan, the division between the board and the franchises stemmed, at least in part, from disagreement over the decision to schedule a second edition of the tournament in 2019. The last tournament finished in February, with the start of the next scheduled for December.
There should, at least, be no doubt as to how seriously the BCB are taking their new rules. The insistence on teams to play wrist-spinners is not limited to the BPL – the board also instructed the eight teams participating in the National Cricket League (NCL) to play any available leggies, and when the Dhaka and Khulna teams ignored this request both coaches were sacked.
Shakib’s criticisms weren’t limited to the two new developments. In his estimation, some infrastructure issues go back a decade. “Places like Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna and Sylhet should have a proper gym, running and indoor facilities,” he said. “You cannot bat for more than 15 minutes in the Mirpur indoor facilities, because it gets so hot. They haven’t installed ACs even after being told for ten years.”
As it stands, there has been no outward reaction from the BCB to Shakib’s comments. As far as the BPL is concerned, the number of teams and their names will remain the same as in the sixth edition, though it had initially been announced that Chittagong Vikings would be replaced by two new teams. None of the squads or players are confirmed. When the tournament does get underway, it will have some way to go to matching the action involved in getting there.
