Dhaka, Sep 6 (IANS) Bangladesh state minister for youth and sports Aminul Haque was unaware of the Bangladesh Premier League’s postponement due to credibility issues and wanted the league to take place every year.
BCB president Tamim Iqbal had earlier confirmed that the board will not start the BPL until the credibility issues that have hit the tournament are fixed, a move which was welcomed by the franchises but not by the cricketers.
The cricketers were later offered increased match fees in the domestic circuit to compensate for the financial issues. Meanwhile, Aminul has called for an annual organisation of the tournament but was not aware of the postponement announced earlier.
“I only got to know from you (media) just now; I wasn’t aware BPL would not take place. BPL is a popular tournament for Bangladesh,” Aminul told the media on Sunday in Dhaka.
“You’re saying the board president presented some logical reasons to you all. I think a tournament like the BPL should be held every year. Why it didn’t happen, we need to discuss. We will obviously monitor in future that this kind of competition takes place regularly,” he added.
Last month, Tamim had announced that he was not ready to host the BPL, Bangladesh’s only T20 franchise tournament, until the issues are fixed. The BPL was scheduled to take place at the end of 2026. “I have said it a few times that I don’t want to organise the BPL this way. One thing has to be said again. In one tournament, for the last two years, BCB has incurred losses of around 40 Crore Taka,” Tamim had said last month.
“Franchise cricket is supposed to make money for Bangladesh Cricket Board. Not lose money, so there is something going wrong. Until and unless we fix the issues, it is not absolutely important for us to host this event every year,” he said.
–IANS
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