Home ›› 05 Jan 2023 ›› Sport
Bangladesh Test and Twenty20 International captain and the skipper of Fortune Barishal in the upcoming ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, Shakib Al Hasan, took a dig at the organisers of the tournament on Wednesday as he said that it would not take him two months to fix the issues that have seen the tournament lose stock over the years.
Shakib, a brand ambassador of Gulf Oil Bangladesh since 2019, was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the company for a day on Wednesday.
Upon appointment, Shakib spoke to the media, where he held back nothing as he criticised several aspects of the BPL.
One of the key problems of BPL has been the practice venues for the teams as all teams have to train at the National Academy Ground in fixed slots, with only Rangpur Riders being the exception as they have been training at the Bashundhara Sports Complex this year.
Besides this, practising teams are yet to have an official practice kit as players have been seen wearing several different jerseys during training.
Shakib said that BPL is even behind Dhaka Premier League, the country’s premier List A tournament, in terms of organisation.
“Even Dhaka Premier League is organised better (than BPL). Teams are formed early, everybody can work based on that. Everybody knows which team they will play for next year. I cannot understand anything about BPL. BPL actually starts after the matches start. Before that, everybody trains as per their wish,” he said.
Another key issue with the BPL this time is that the Decision Review System will not be available during the league stage of the tournament.
Shakib poked fun saying that maybe the Bangladesh Cricket Board is a bit curt on money.
“I don’t know (why DRS is not available). Maybe BCB is short on funds! I don’t see any reason to not have something if there is goodwill behind it. Drafts are not done three months before the tournament, there is no auction, there is no DRS, and teams will not be formed two months prior – I don’t see any reason behind any of this.
“A player will come and leave after two days. Nobody knows who will come when. I saw the news that players did not receive their jerseys yet. It’s like everything is in shambles,” the Barishal skipper said.
Shakib said that it would not take him even two months to solve the situation.
“If I am appointed CEO, it won’t take long to solve the situation. It will take one or two months at most. It won’t take even two months. If I become the CEO of BPL, everything will be scrapped. The draft auction will be done again, BPL will be held during a free time, there will be modern technologies, the broadcasting will be good, and there will be home and away venues,” he said.
What Shakib mentioned as his plans for the renovation of BPL is considered a prerequisite for any franchise league to take place, but even in its ninth edition, the Bangladeshi tournament is yet to have a home and away format as matches are played in only three venues, and with the emergence of other leagues around the globe, BPL has seen its schedule clash with the South African T20 franchise league, where teams are mostly owned by Indian Premier League franchises, leading to BPL not having quality players on display, overall reducing the quality of the league.
Shakib said that the market of BPL should have been bigger in Bangladesh than it is now.
“The market (of BPL) is not there because we could not create it. The market was supposed to be huge. There is no rural area where cricket is not played. It’s not like there is no popularity of the game. It’s sad to believe that such a popular sport in a country of 16-20 crore people does not have a market. I, personally, don’t believe it. It’s a big failure from a marketing perspective,” he said.
The BPL starts on Friday, and Shakib will join training on Thursday. Before that, he pointed out the errs of the tournament that has lost prominence with every edition. There is no franchise in the league that has participated in all nine editions, and that is a telling factor of the sustainability of the tournament.
If BCB really wants to make BPL popular, they will have to change things up. And they need to do it soon.
