Home ›› 04 Jan 2023 ›› Sport
The ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, the country’s only franchise-based T20 league, will start on January 6, but its value has plummeted over the years.
When the tournament started in 2012, it attracted major stars but a decade later, the picture is dire as teams now fail to sign big names, and even if they do, it’s rarely for a part of the tournament rather than the whole.
For example, defending Champions Comilla Victorians had signed Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, one of the best in the world, for the upcoming season but now he won’t be available due to injury. They have signed England’s Dawid Malan, who will only play two matches and will remain the biggest star among the plethora of non-elite overseas players.
Another of Comilla’s marquee signings, Mohammad Rizwan is also not available at the beginning of the tournament due to injury.
Other teams have signed players from mostly Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and West Indies, but none are those whom T20 teams crave leading up to any tournament.
Even the arrival of overseas players is in question as Khulna Tigers head coach Khaled Mahmud could not speak about when they would come.
“The overseas players are not available yet. Today (Tuesday), Paul McCleron will come. Some will come tomorrow, some on the day after that,” he said.
But BPL’s plummeting stock is not because of the lack of big players, rather the problem belies within the infrastructure.
BPL does not have a franchise that was present in every edition of the tournament as there have been several issues regarding the matter. In 2019, the previous franchises left because the Bangladesh Cricket Board was not willing to share their revenue with them.
Mahmud, who is a BCB director himself, put his finger on that matter.
“There is a matter of revenue sharing. Businesses come here and spend Tk 10-15 crores, but what do they get in return? Maybe some sponsors. But in the current state of the country, it’s not like they can earn huge money from that. When a franchise comes and stays for 2-3 years, they face a loss of Tk 3 crores. Nobody will do this after three years,” the BCB director said.
He added, “But if you take a team for eight years, you can face a loss for three years, then break even, and then you can start profiting. If it’s not like that, everybody will not be interested. At the end of the day, businesses will only think about themselves.”
Mahmud also provided a solution by asking BCB to follow the structure of the Indian Premier League, the world’s biggest franchise tournament.
“We have to think like the IPL format. So that both the franchise and the BCB are in win-win situations. BCB earn little money from here (BPL). The franchises need to have the same. How you can create that win-win situation and business modules, is important. We have to think like that,” the former Bangladesh captain inferred.
BPL will once again go forward without Decision Review System in place for the league stage, something that has not gone well with players and coaches.
“Having it (DRS) is beneficial for everybody. It’s the decision of those who are in management. Maybe there are some problems. I feel that it should be brought by solving those problems,” Fortune Barishal all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz said.
