BCB creates Dhaka dilemma to avoid further controversy

|| CF DESK ||

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) last Wednesday (22 December) has officially announced the names of the owners of 6 teams of BPL, where the Dhaka franchise was won by Rupa Fabrics Limited and Marn Steel Limited’s Consortium. However, BCB did not give them the night before the players’ draft as they could not fulfill the financial conditions.

The team goes under the supervision of BCB as Ismail Haider Mallick, BCB director and member secretary of the BPL governing council, claimed that the controversial situation was created to avoid further controversy.

After the draft on Monday (December 27), Ismail Haider confronted the media and highlighted the background of this change at the last minute.

"When we go to the BPL’s tender, about 10-12 teams showed interest. Through the whole process, we had selected 8 franchises, who can be the owners. From that, we made a shortlist of 6 companies. Five people have deposited money on time, one could not,” Mallick said.

"Those who wanted to take the team earlier, one of them was still interested last night. We thought, let the board make the team first. Once created, the sponsorship banner or ownership, we will give it” he added.

Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the chief executive of the BCB and a member of the BPL governing council, said a few days ago that they are choosing the owners of the franchise after a lot of scrutiny. Mallick, on the other hand, demanded that the BCB should be applauded for their action.

"We excluded them because we was checking and sorting properly. It is commendable in the sense that the board did not just give away the team for money. We have sponsors, we have proprietors. The team hasn’t been that bad. It has been one of the best teams. Our board president [Nazmul Hasan Papon] gave instructions last night, everything is ready that way,” 

"Everyone who came to own a franchise here, not everyone has the mentality to follow the rules properly. The BPL, which used to be big 3-4 years ago, is getting smaller this time, at least financially. We want to strictly follow the financial rules and other issues that we have" the board member added.

Meanwhile, Dhaka picked national team T20I captain Mahmudullah Riyad from outside the draft and then Tamim Iqbal for the first call from the draft. After that in the third call, they took Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the most successful ODI captain of the national team. These three cricketers are going to play together for the first time in BPL.

BPL will start on January 21 next year.