BPL: the movie in the making

|| CF Correspondent ||

Just before every edition of Bangladesh Premier League country’s cricket fraternity is crowded by outsiders and it was no indifferent this time round too.

The stage is all set to start the special edition of Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League after the grand opening ceremony at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on December 8.

Cricketers of the seven teams participating in this edition of the tournament are gathering thick and fast in the BCB academy premises to utilize the allotted two hours in the middle.

Every now and then new foreign cricketers and coaches are coming into the academy with some officials taking them to their respective dressing rooms where they get a chance to know with whom they will share the dressing room for the next one month.

The security increases inside the SBNS premises while the long queue of the net bowlers who had to fight out to enter the academy crossing the security barrier and sitting in the sidelines eyeing for an opportunity only indicates that arrival of the Twemnty20 extravaganza.

The new addition in the line-up seems to be the introduction of the camera person in the midst of the practice session.

The way videographer of Dhaka Platoons roamed inside the academy premises never looked to be a proper training session rather it appeared that shooting is taking place.

It looked quite odd when the videographer chased Mashrafe from the start of his run-up till the delivery as this kind of thing is only seen in the movie sets while doing a song number.

‘’Is it over or they [videographer] will be doing this all through practice,’’ a member of the Platoon unit gushed in sheer irritation knowing that they have hardly anything to do apart from being part of the cinema.

The walkie-talkie men are starting to pour inside the premises in abundance as the teams are eyeing for high scale security and along the way, there are other elements making it jammed for the cricketers to make a perfect preparation for the tournament.

While it was nothing new for the Bangladeshi cricketers and officials, it came as a blow for Mark O Donell, the New Zealander who joined Rangpur Rangers as head coach and had the opportunity to oversee things in his first day at the office.

‘’We actually had a very good training season. It is a very tight schedule. You have got six teams practicing here. We have to get a 2-hour window and use it well,’’ Mark told reporters.

‘’We have got six teams practicing here and some spectator. We are worried people is going to hit in these situations I have never got any ground where so many teams practice together in such a short space of time,’’ he said