DPL slated for October
The Dhaka Premier League, the most coveted 50-over domestic competition and a major source of income for a majority of players in the country, is scheduled to start from October 10 this year.
AJM Nasir, the chairman of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM), revealed the date yesterday after an operational level meeting at Mirpur adding that the two-day players' transfer will take place on August 4-5.
Nasir, an organiser from Chittagong who was given the responsibility to run Dhaka's major competition, came up with a shocking response when asked which season the league would fall under.
“There is no word as season here. Last time we had the league in September, we will do it similarly this year, and next year will follow the same routine. So I don't understand what season means. June to June is the financial calendar,” said Nasir.
Two editions of the league were promised for this year by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after a five-month delay last year to start the league. The promise was made to ensure season-wise continuity of the league but yesterday's announcement proved that the BCB failed to keep their word.
BCB's acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury, who stood beside Nasir during the press conference, also could not clear the air about the season of the coming league.
“We have fixed this schedule as of now, and now we will organise the league. If there are more decisions regarding this it is possible (to name a season). This was a basic meeting in the operational level and we have to work out these matters in the board, we will take a decision and go,” said Nizamuddin.
Nasir and Nizamuddin both however informed that the controversial 'player by choice system' will be discontinued, as promised by the board.
“It will be open; there will not be any player-by-choice system. It will take place like before but this will be confirmed in the CCDM meeting,” said Nizamuddin.
Nasir said that the Premier League will end on November 25 while the players' transfer for the First Division League will be held on September 1 and 2 and league will start from October 12, the players' transfer for the Third Division will be held on November 17-18 and the league will start from December 17.
They are also planning to arrange a T20 tournament with the First Division teams.
During the meeting on preparing the calendar they also kept a slot for the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 from December 1 to January 5. And soon after the tournament the national team will go to Australia for a two-week conditioning camp before the 2015 World Cup.
“Bangladesh will go to Australia 15 days before the World Cup so that they can acclimatise to the conditions. We are working on how we can capitalise on the two-week stay in Australia,” said Akram Khan, chairman of the cricket operations committee.
Nizamuddin said that they will discuss more as there are also two longer-version tournaments -- Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) and National Cricket League (NCL).
Comments