Home ›› 06 Jan 2023 ›› Sport
Nasir Hossain, who has appointed the captain of Dhaka Dominators less than 24 hours before the tournament started, had enough.
The official photo shoot of the seven captains of the ninth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League was scheduled at 3 PM on Thursday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
But half an hour had passed of Nasir and four other representatives waiting, with Sylhet Strikers skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and Rangpur Riders captain Nurul Hasan Sohan still to arrive.
Nasir, quite angrily, stormed off the pitch of the SBNCS. Soon, Mashrafe and Nurul arrived, and Nasir was back for the photo session, where seven captains, well, six captains and Fortune Barishal representative Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who filled in for regular skipper Shakib Al Hasan, posed with the trophy of the upcoming tournament.
And among those seven, only four - Sylhet’s Mashrafe, Chattogram Challengers’ Shuvagata Hom, Rangpur’s Nurul, and Comilla Victorians’ Imrul Kayes - were donning the match kit. The other three - Barishal’s Miraz, Khula Tigers captain Yasir Ali Chowdhury, and Dhaka’s Nasir - were wearing the practice kit, presumably because they will not play on the opening day.
All those mishaps on the eve of the country’s only franchise T20 event actually painted a true picture - the dire situation of the tournament, the apparent mismanagement, and the obvious disorganisation.
Prior to that photo shoot, Bangladesh Cricket Board officially announced the title sponsor of this BPL less than 36 hours before the first match took place, and in an ensuing press conference, their Chief Executive Officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury was bombarded with questions about the mismanagement of BPL, which included the lack of practice venues, kits, and Decision Review System.
The tournament will start without the DRS, an essential element of the global game nowadays, when Chattogram will take on Sylhet today at 2:30 PM, followed by the second match between Comilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders at 7:15 PM.
The BCB CEO continuously said that they had several limitations for which they could not manage the technology.
“The reality is we have been trying for DRS for 2-3 months since our production team told us about it. We have even contacted ICC. I personally contacted ICC’s commercial manager, and also several boards. But we could not arrange it as there are several international series going on and also various domestic leagues are ongoing,” he told the media.
This comes a day after Shakib said that if there was goodwill, the technology would have arrived. Chowdhury inferred that the all-rounder did not know BCB’s limitations and would not have said so if he did.
“I’m not sure on what basis or on what information he said those words. If he knew our limitations, he might have said otherwise,” he said, adding that he would not disclose their limitations publicly.
Shakib had also said that other countries did not count BPL as a top-level league, and Sylhet skipper Mashrafe agreed to that notion.
“The atmosphere makes it seem so (BPL being unattractive to other countries). Because 6-7 teams are training in one field. These things matter. You have to organise things properly.
“If someone comes and sees this, they will say everything is in shambles. A tournament has its beauty, you have to hype it up before the tournament. We have failed to do this since the start, it’s true,” the former Bangladesh captain said.
Mashrafe also talked about revenue sharing with franchises, something BCB director Khaled Mahmud had also pointed out a couple of days earlier.
But as the BCB CEO said that the revenue was not the most important part of BPL, the focus should be shifted to the pitch, where the action will begin today.
The first match will see Chattogram, who played the play-off last time, face Sylhet.
Ahead of the match, Chattogram skipper Shuvagata said their aim was to be Champions, while Mashrafe was looking at the tournament match by match.
“We will take the field to become Champions. Our strength is our team spirit, the team is balanced. On that basis, we can hope,” Shuvagata said.
“Every team want to be Champions. We are no different. But you can’t just say it. You have to do well on the field match by match. It’s a game at momentum, we will try to do well from the start,” Mashrafe said.
Defending Champions Comilla will face the returning Rangpur, and incumbent skipper Imrul was hopeful of a repeat, while Rangpur skipper Nurulsaid that he was yet to touch the trophy in wait.
“Comilla always form a team worthy of being Champions. The target is the same this year, aiming to keep the title home. We have to play well on the field, being strong on paper doesn’t matter,” Imrul said.
“The hope is to become Champions. I have not touched the trophy yet, will do if we become Champions. Our team is young and energetic. There are several all-rounders. If we give our 100%, something good will happen,” Nurul said.
