Financial safeguards in place, but integrity unchecked

While the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has implemented financial safeguards to prevent a repeat of last season's payment fiasco in the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), it has been far less proactive on the issue of ensuring the league's integrity.

On Thursday, the BCB named five franchises who will compete in the upcoming 12th edition. Out of the six teams that competed in the previous season, only two -- Dhaka Capitals and Rangpur Riders -- will feature in the next one, joined by new teams Chattogram Royals, Rajshahi Warriors, and Sylhet Titans.

The BCB has already taken Tk 2 crores from each team as franchise fee for this season, and all of them will have to submit another Tk 10 crores as bank guarantee by next Thursday.

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Five BPL franchises confirmed

Last season, the board had not taken bank guarantees from all of the teams; only eventual winners Fortune Barishal had deposited Tk 3 crores as bank guarantee. The BCB later regretted this decision once the season kicked off.

Players from many franchises started complaining that their dues were not getting cleared, the chief offenders being Durbar Rajshahi, whose overseas players boycotted matches over not receiving daily allowances, and Chittagong Kings, whose owner did not even bother showing up in an emergency meeting held mid-season by the board with the teams to address the league's issues.

Both of those franchises are not a part of the tournament this season, as the board has seemingly conducted a much stricter vetting process this time.

"We have followed due process during the screening of the interested organisations," member secretary of the BPL governing council Iftekhar Rahman Mithu told The Daily Star.

"Last season, there were two key issues. One was players' payments being due at the end of the tournament. This is why we are asking for the Tk 10 crore bank guarantee," he added.

A profit-sharing model will be implemented in the upcoming BPL, as the board will share 30 percent of its profits with the franchises. In the case of non-payment, this amount will be withheld by the board and used to clear the dues.

However, the previous edition was also plagued by allegations of fixing, which tarnished the league's reputation globally and prompted the board to form a three-member inquiry committee in February.

After an extensive investigation, the committee recently submitted a 900-page report to the board in late-October, which included names of players, support staff, and others who are suspected of being involved in corrupt activities.

However, the BCB has chosen not to make the report public and has instead handed it over to Alex Marshal, the chief of its new Bangladesh Cricket Board Integrity Unit (BCBIU), who is investigating the allegations.

"They [three-member committee] have taken interviews and created a list of players under suspicion. After Marshall completes his investigation, he will give his opinion on it. Of course, there would be further investigation, evidence will be collected. There is no proof yet; there is a list of suspects," a BCB official said on condition of anonymity.

The only immediate impact the 900-page report will have in the upcoming BPL is that the suspected players will be monitored more than the rest, according to sources.

According to BCB vice-president Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the BCB will not reveal the names until it "knows for sure," as it does not want to put players who are under suspicion but not guilty in a tough spot.

But by not revealing the suspected individuals' names and allowing them to participate, the BCB is attracting suspicion over the BPL at a time when the league is in desperate need of an image makeover. Like the decision of not taking bank guarantees, this could end up being a call the board ends up regretting later.