Bangladesh Premier League 2020 has been called off.
Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan has confirmed the decision to put off the franchisee based professional T20 competition. “It is not happening this year,” Nazmul has told media persons in Dhaka.
“Let’s see it in next year. We do not want to miss any game but everything will depend on the situation and circumstances,” Cricbuzz has quoted Nazul as saying.
“Because whenever there is talk of BPL, there must be foreign cricketers. At the same time there is the matter of production. Now if we can do those in Bangladesh then we have no objection. But it is a little bigger arrangement because of the number of players there and the team management are much higher. I don’t know if we are able to handle that or not,” he said.
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India has shown the way by staging the Indian Premier League in the UAE, BCB supremo Nazmul said it would not be financially viable to conduct the BPL 2020 at an offshore venue. The financial burden involved with creating a bio-bubble and revealed that he was yet to have an official word with the franchises.
“I don’t think it will be easy (organize the tournament outside). I tell you, when we go to run in Bangladesh (BPL), except for one or two franchises, the rest of us have a hard time to play the tournament.
“I heard it today the bio-security belt has to be created outside say in the UK and even in Dubai for the IPL as well and I don’t think it is possible for anyone. It is almost impossible for us to spend so much money.”
Bangladesh has seen no competitive cricket ever since almost all sporting action was halted worldwide in March this year to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.