BCB to conduct T20 tournament instead of BPL after fallout with franchises

Many of the franchises had a list of observations and demands. But it is not possible to meet those demands" - Nazmul © AFP

The Bangladesh Cricket Board have decided not to launch the second cycle of the Bangladesh Premier League, the country's lone franchise-based tournament, as the franchises made some unacceptable demands. The BPL's governing council had several meetings with franchises in the last few weeks, and a new agreement was expected to be signed on the completion of the first cycle. However, according to BCB president, Nazmul Hasan, following those meetings, they had to eventually abandon the plan of a new cycle.

"We were expected to sign fresh agreements with the franchises and we had meetings with them. Many of the franchises had a list of observations and demands. But it is not possible to meet those demands with the BPL model we currently have," Nazmul said on Wednesday (September 11). "There are a few franchises who also are not happy having two editions of the tournament in a same year. It is not that they do not want to participate, but they have that observation. So having considered the whole situation we will have a T20 tournament managed by the board this year. No franchises will be involved in this tournament. The tournament will be funded by the board," added the BCB boss.

The announcement of Nazmul implies that the BCB will conduct a T20 tournament following a model similar to that of the Big Bash League in Australia. The T20 tournament for the season will be named after the father of the nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to mark his 100th birthday. Nazmul also added that they are hoping to start the new cycle of the BPL from 2020 with a proper long-term plan as they will now have the time to plan things out.

"That way the franchises will have clear guideline of the rules and regulations and decide if they want to participate in the tournament or not," said Nazmul. He also added that they are not ready to share revenues. Several franchise owners said that they are yet to get any official letter from the BCB and are waiting to see how the board wants to runs the show this year.

The first problem with the BCB started after Shakib al Hasan decided to move to Rangpur Riders from Dhaka Dynamites which hurt the ego of a lot of stakeholders of the Dynamites, considering that they are also part of the BCB high-ups. However, Nazmul said that it was not the case alone that prompted them to take this route.

"Why are we only naming Shakib. There were other instances like Tamim and Mushfiq [changing their franchises]. Is it possible to do without our knowledge?

"They say that they are always at a loss but they buy a player worth TK 80 lakhs to four crores," he said, pointing towards Shakib's transfer fee. We won't allow anyone do business with cricket," he added.