The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is planning to abandon the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2026, which usually starts in December and ends in January. It is the country’s marquee franchise tournament, which has provided some entertainment to fans, and will not be played later this year. This is not good news for Bangladesh cricket fans.
According to Prothom Alo’s report, BCB is thinking that if they do not get any kind of good franchise and the quality of cricket cannot be ensured, then the board will skip a season and rebuild the league. However, it has not brought good name to the country since its inception and the current board of Tamim Iqbal does not want to earn any new ‘bad name’.
BPL franchise has not paid
Almost everyone in the BCB management is accepting the closure of BPL for this season as it has caused financial stress on BCB and damaged the reputation of the country with weak franchises. The board wants to ensure that there are no issues even if the competition is held again with a new name and identity.
A BCB source highlighted the negative side of BPL. As he said, the franchises do not pay the full amount to the players for whom they are bought to play the tournament and then BCB has to pay the rest of the money.
A BCB source said, “In BPL, BCB has to pay almost the entire amount for the players of one or two teams. The franchise owners call the players at any price they want.”
“They call a player for 5 lakh taka for 50 lakh taka and then do not pay the money. All these responsibilities are left on the shoulders of the cricket board. Then, almost all of the money that comes from selling TV rights goes into production costs. What is the point of doing this BPL?”
“We will try our best to organize the tournament” – Faheem Sinha Update on next BPL
BPL Governing Council Chairman Faheem Sinha is still optimistic that BPL will happen. He believes that the tournament will yield some better franchises and will also provide a season break.
However, his words had a different tone: “We will try our best to organize the tournament with good franchises. If not, maybe we will give the season a break.”
He also said that many good organizations have expressed interest in taking ownership of the franchise this time. The Governing Council chief also ruled out the possibility of changing the name of ‘BPL’ in future.
Spot fixing in BPL brought infamy
Earlier, there were allegations of spot fixing in almost every season in BPL. Along with this, there were certain factors which included unpaid loans of both domestic and international players, conflicts between BCB and the franchises and unprofessional conduct of the franchises.
Following reports of spot-fixing in the 2024 edition of the BPL, former Appellate Division judge Mirza Hussain Haider led the case, and it was said that these issues should be resolved before planning for the next edition.