Bangladesh Premier League franchise Khulna Titans have appreciated the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision to name upcoming season of the tournament to mark 100th birthday of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The franchise however, emphasised on the importance of having rules and regulations that has brought the tournament to the road of success.
The BCB emerged with a sudden revamp of the rules and regulations for BPL season 2019-20 following differences with the franchises.
The BPL Governing Council and the existing franchises of the tournament had individual meetings to clear differences but that seemed to bridge the gulf between the stakeholders of the cash-spinning cricketing extravaganza.
However, the board came to the decision to not have franchises involved for the upcoming season and rather manage the tournament solely involving ‘team sponsors’.
The BCB president Nazmul Hasan had cited of not having adequate time to set the regulations as demanded by the franchises.
The BCB had also mentioned of bringing back the interested franchises from the current in the eighth edition of the tournament next year. That left majority of the franchises, who are yet to come to a decision on their participation in the tournament, upset.
“The last few editions of the BPL did not have any controversy. There was no concern with match or spot fixing or irregularities with the payments that had marred the early editions of the tournament. On the other hand T20 leagues around the world are growing like mushrooms and that has put BPL franchises to compete and come to strong position and this has happened only because of the payment structure in BPL,” said Khulna Titans managing director Kazi Inam to the reporters in Dhaka on Monday.
“The franchises deserve the credit of setting a standard of the tournament signing the biggest of cricketers from around the world and this was due to the ‘direct signing’ regulation. This has been a big success. The board’s decision to name this season of the tournament after Father of the Nation is remarkable. But I believe the tournament could have remained the way it was involving the franchises. This is my personal opinion,” said Inam.
“In May this year, we were informed by the BCB to start preparing for the upcoming season and later that tournament will begin December 5 or 6. At one point we were informed that a fresh cycle of agreement between the franchises and the BCB will start and we were called to discuss about the renewal,” he added.
Inam informed that his franchise was waiting for a letter from the BPL GC informing the newly set rules and regulations that was to stay for the new cycle. But they saw totally a new format occurred, instead.
“I think there is still time for the board president [Nazmul Hasan] to rethink of his decision. He has the option to sit with the franchises. I strongly believe the franchises played big role in creating excitement throughout the country. Losing that charm now will be a big loss to not only the franchises but the value of the tournament itself. BPL has an incredible brand value and stability. I will hope that the BCB, if they are doing the tournament by themselves, will ensure of the tournament not losing the value,” said Inam.
A big question remains with the future of the ‘directly signed cricketers’ by the franchise, mainly the overseas. A number of BPL franchises in accordance to the BPL GC communication, to prepare for the upcoming season, had signed big name cricketers from around the globe.
Khulna Titans for the season 2019-20 had signed former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson along with South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir.
As per the media reports the franchise had also signed Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal as their Icon/A+ category player for the season.
“It is unknown to Khulna Titans supporters and other but my franchise had to work around six months in order to sign Shane Watson. He had retired from Big Bash and then only come to play BPL T20 for us. Shane Watson’s manager was first to reach me once the news [of a revamp broke] asking updates of the happening. My point is exactly that. The reliability and value of the tournament should not be hampered at any point. I believe the board understands these issues well and if they still remain to the decision of running the tournament of their own, I will hope that they will take these [of the signed overseas cricketers] into consideration,” said Inam.