‘BPL’s December 6 start uncertain’

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan had announced on September 11 that the board would stage the upcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on its own from December 6 and name the domestic T20 tournament after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to commemorate the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary.

However, BCB's media committee chairman Jalal Yunus yesterday informed that there were doubts over whether they would be able to start the tournament in time.

After the first cycle of the BPL ended with the sixth edition earlier this year, the BPL governing council sat with all the franchises to discuss terms of the new four-year cycle.

After the meetings, the BCB boss said on September 11 that the board were not able to accept the franchises' demands, which he said were in conflict with the module of the T20 tournament.

The BCB had floated a notice seeking team sponsors on September 17 with the deadline for submission set for September 22 and had received five Expression of Interest (EOI) applications from parties wanting to sponsor teams in the upcoming edition.

"We have still kept December 6 as the probable start date of the tournament but I can't say anything at the moment. As it is already late, it's difficult to say how long it will take [to start]. I am doubtful about whether it will start on time as a lot of things are still unfinished. After completing those the start date of the tournament will be announced," Jalal told the media yesterday.

The BCB director went on to explain the reason for the delay. "We are planning to arrange the tournament with a new format. There were franchises in the previous edition; this time we are taking sponsor partners, which is the reason we had to make a few changes. We have received interest from five to six companies after seeking sponsors, so there will be some changes. We need to sit with them at least once and we have very little time. We will announce the date of the draft after having a meeting with the BCB president," he said.