Bangladesh Premier League
BPL: The T20 cricket tournaments are in trend after the massive success of the Indian Premier league. Cricket fans appreciate it and love it to a huge extent. The reason for this is the number of sixes and fours with huge scores gives a feel of extreme entertainment to the current world cricket viewers. Therefore a lot of other countries do have their own cricket league now. Players throughout the world join those.
Bangladesh Premier League is also one of them. Bangladesh cricket board is the one that handles the whole tournament. In fact, BPL is going on currently. This is the ninth successive season in play. Ispahani BPL 2023 or BPL 9 is what people call it for the current season. And of course, BPL 2024 is all set for the next year. As per the number of people attending the league, the Bangladesh Premier League is in sixteenth place in the world.
The first match of BPL 2023 was on the 6th of January. In total, there will be 46 matches. Out of those, 42 matches are for the group stage. In which, each team plays 12 matches against each of the remaining teams. Then three matches are in the playoffs. Finally, the title match will be on February 16, 2023.
There is news that Bangladesh Cricket Board has already set the dates for BPL 2024 as well as BPL 2025.
The difficulty for finding the slot for BPL 2024
As we know that the dates were already set for BPL 2024 as well as BPL 2025. Let us talk about the dates that were set by Bangladesh Cricket Board for next season. It was supposed to start on January 6th, 2024. And, the end date for the same will be 17th of February. With that, they did announce the names of all seven teams too.
Now the issue is getting the slot for the same. As the dates are clashing with other events. The president of Bangladesh Cricket Board, Nazmul Hasan, did give a statement, “We are not getting the slot for the next BPL and it is nearly impossible to bring out a slot. We have got one but we might need to have a gap in between if there is a general election where the security personnel will be needed.”
The very first reason behind that is the dates for general elections taking place in January. And, of course, the security forces have to be in place as per the priority. Thus, the Bangladesh cricket Board can not pursue BPL 2024 without optimum security.
Besides, there is one more reason too. As similar leagues from different countries do have dates clashing with this. Those are, SA20, UAE’s ILT20, and Australia’s Big Bash. Now, due to those tournaments, players from other countries will not be able to join BPL 2024. Therefore, this is one of the reasons that acting as a roadblock in deciding about the dates for the Bangladesh Premier League next year.
What BCB is thinking to do?
After carefully evaluating all the factors affecting the cricket league for next year, the Bangladesh Cricket Board did say officially that they are thinking about changing the dates for the Premier League. Though, BPL is the only league involving the franchise format. And, definitely generates revenue in the country. Therefore, keeping the dates as per those months when the league can have the maximum viewership. The exposure for BPL 2024 is a must to survive. Moreover, all factors must be in consideration to make a certain decision.
At the end…
In the end, all BCB have is the option of rescheduling the tournament to different dates. It might be difficult to do as everything was already set. However, they have a year to make all the arrangements after deciding the right dates. Besides those, the Bangladesh cricket board also has the decision to make about appointing the new head coach for the Bangladeshi team. With Russell Domingo vacating the position, there must be a replacement to be found as soon as possible.
The focus on the BPL is important but the international team can not be left without a head coach for so long. Therefore, both decisions are to be lined up as early as possible. However, the fans will definitely get entertainment from those. Enjoy the current season of BPL. There is quite close competition for the top two positions in the group stage.
