BPL stalls all in its wake

The arrival of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 has apparently rendered everything else relating to cricket unimportant, or at any rate not as important as the money-driven venture.
The ongoing Premier Division Cricket League, the coveted limited-over competition, is set to suffer due to the BCB's new venture as Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) has decided in it's meeting yesterday that some matches of the first round will be held outside Dhaka and the Super League will start only after the completion of the BPL.
There were heated discussions at the meeting as the club officials came down hard on the league's schedule being hampered due to the BPL. The franchises have expressed their desire to have team members available from February 1 so that they can prepare before the tournament but the club officials were not ready to comply. It was learnt that the officials also demanded compensation from the board for rescheduling the league.
It is worth mentioning here that the scheduling of the country's lone first-class competition, the National Cricket League (NCL), was earlier upset because of the Premier Division Cricket League.
“After the tenth round which will conclude on February 3, we will not get the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and that is why we have picked Bogra (Shahid Chandu Stadium) as the third venue besides Fatullah and BKSP to complete the first round of the league,” informed GS Hasan Tamim, chairman of CCDM, yesterday.
“We will continue with the Super League after the BPL, though it will clash with the Asia Cup. We can't finish the league smoothly because of BPL, so I think BCB has to think seriously about the smooth running of the domestic competition from the next season,” added Tamim.
Apart from the scheduling blunders there are two other pressing issues on the BCB's plate that are not receiving due attention, again perhaps because of the lure of the BPL dessert.
Besides that there are pending two major issues for the board to solve but it seems that the authorities concerned have not been paying due attention to these matters.
The board is yet to settle the new contracts for the national cricketers; the previous one ended on November 30 last year. The cricket operations committee is still waiting for the recommendations from chief selector Akram Khan in order to prepare a new proposal for the board's approval. No one actually knows when the players will get the new contracts.
On the other hand the board is yet to find a new sponsor for the national team. The BCB's previous contract with the Grameemphone ended on November last year. The board floated a tender for new sponsors but did not get any response.
“It is under process. Grameenphone is also interested to extend their tie with the national team. Hope everything will be settled within a very short time,” said BCB's acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury when asked about the sponsorship issue.
The BPL will get underway with the opening ceremony on February 9 and the matches will start the following day. The final will be held on February 29 a 20 day tournament that only in its first edition is threatening to disrupt cricket-related activities throughout the year.