No place for Shakib’s Monarch

Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday announced the seven franchise owners for the next edition of the Bangladesh Premier League where Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s Monarch Holdings were left out despite their Expression of Interest (EOI).

The seven franchise owners are- Fortune Barishal Sports Ltd, Mindtree Limited, Progoti Green Auto Rice Mills Ltd, Future Sports Bangladesh Limited, Toggi Sports Limited (Bashundhara Group), Delta Sports Ltd, and Comilla Legends Limited. BCB picked these seven from the nine EOIs they got from corporate companies.

These companies will own the franchises for the next three seasons. All these companies are under obligation to make payment of Franchise Fee an amount of net Tk1.5 crore (per edition) as well as an amount of net Tk8.5 crore (per edition) as a Minimum Payment Guarantee against players’ payment (both local & overseas).

Shakib’s Monarch Holdings had submitted an EOI for the Padma franchise, which has not been handed to any party as BCB went with the previous six teams along with Rangpur.

Shakib was supposed to play for that team if BCB handed them a team, but the country’s cricket governing body did not. Abul Khayer Hero, a deputy registrar at the Department of Cooperatives and the key person behind Monarch Holdings, had previously told The Business Post that he and Shakib had big plans in place for the franchise.

“We have submitted our application for a team under the name Monarch Padma. Previously I was associated with the Fortune Barishal team as a co-sponsor, but this time I and Shakib are going together for a new team, Monarch Padma. Shakib will play for our team”, he said on September 3.

But their plan has been nipped in the bud after BCB not placing them as a franchise owner.

Among other teams, Bashundhara Group is returning after two seasons, and they got their hands on Rangpur, with the franchise returning after not being there in the 2022 season.

Fortune Barishal Sports Ltd will continue owning the Barishal franchise, the same with Cumilla as Nafisa Kamal’s Comilla Legends Limited will take over the franchise following their title-winning last campaign.

Mindtree Limited will also keep hold of the Khulna franchise following the last season, and so will Delta Sports Ltd, owned by Akhtar Group, as they will run the Chattogram franchise.

Progoti Green Auto Rice Mills Ltd owned Sylhet Sunrisers in the last season but will own Dhaka for the next three seasons.

They had previously informed The Business Post earlier that they wanted to have the Padma franchise but would carry on with Sylhet if that did not happen.

BCB did not hand out any franchises named Padma, but Progoti Green Ltd did not stick to Sylhet as they took charge of Dhaka.

Sylhet was handed over to Future Sports Bangladesh Limited, the only new owners among the seven.

The 2023 edition of the BPL, the tournament’s ninth season, will start on January 5 and end on February 16. In 2024, the tournament will run from January 6 to February 17. The next year, it will start on the first of the year and end on February 11.