BCB ditches BPL franchises to launch new T20 tournament in Bangabandhu's name

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Bangla Tribune Desk
Published : 23:20, Sep 11, 2019 | Updated : 09:50, Sep 12, 2019

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to shelve the seventh edition of the Bangladesh Premier League T20, which was scheduled to start in December this year.
Instead, the BCB will hold a T20 tournament managed by the BPL governing council, a model similar to that of the Big Bash T20 in Australia, according to media reports.
The tournament will be named after the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to mark his 100th birthday.
The decision to change the tournament format, however, has irked the cricketing arena and is being understood to be an aftermath of the conflict between the BPL GC and the existing franchises.
The saga of the conflict between the BPL GC and the franchises was triggered with Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan’s move to Rangpur Riders from Dhaka Dynamites.
Following Rangpur's announcement of signing Shakib, the BPL GC all of a sudden came hard on the franchises and denied acknowledging any signings of players to any team for the upcoming season of the tournament.
The BPL GC had declared of setting fresh rules to start a "new four-year cycle", which was opposed by the majority of the franchises.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan during a press-meet at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Wednesday (Sept 11) said the board could not reach a solution over the differences with the existing franchises of the tournament.
“BPL is a tough task. We will 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,” said Nazmul to the media.
“There are a few franchises who are also not happy with two editions of the tournament in the 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.
Nazmul informed that BPL T20 will return to action from year 2020 with a proper set of long-term plans.
The plans will be worked upon and released through publication.
“That way, the franchises will have clear guideline of the rules and regulations and can decide if they want to participate in the tournament or not,” said Nazmul.
The recent disputes between the governing body of the tournament and the franchises had resulted into a series of meetings.
Chittagong Vikings franchise were declared ownerless following the last edition of the tournament.
Five franchises, except for the Dynamites, had echoed similar sentiments after separate meetings with the BPL GC, to come to a solution to the disputes.
Majority of the franchises had said they started preparing for the new BPL T20 season only after receiving a confirmation letter from the BCB in May this year.
The majority of the franchises in the meeting with the governing committee had demanded a direct local A+/Icon local player signing, along with two direct overseas signings.
The franchises had also pressed for a revenue-sharing model.
Following the series of meetings, the BCB and BPL GC at different times had assured of the tournament happening as planned and scheduled.
There was speculation over the future of the tournament but that was also ruled out Sunday as Nazmul dusted off doubts, saying the seventh edition of BPL T20 is on track as per plans.
However Wednesday, the BCB boss informed of the board’s different set of plans and came hard on the franchises who intend to stay in the tournament.

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