Smith denied BPL debut

Former Australia captain Steve Smith is not eligible to participate in the upcoming sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have decided that letting him play would go against the by-laws.

The objection issued by the franchises was based the BPL by-laws which state that a replacement player can only be selected from the players' draft list.

"The matter of taking players from outside the draft was not in the BPL by-laws. We allowed it owing to the greater interest of the franchises. Since the franchises objected, we had to take the decision [to not allow him to play]," said BCB media committee chairman and chairman of the BPL technical committee, Jalal Younus, yesterday.

The Australian cricketer, currently serving a year-long ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal which occurred during the Test between Australia and South Africa last March, was expected to join the Comilla Victorias from the fifth game of the tournament.