BPL halted till Nov 8

Incessant rainfall has compelled the Bangladesh Premier League's (BPL's) technical committee to suspend the BPL matches scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. The T20 league will instead resume on November 8.

The matches that have been suspended will be played during the reserve days of the current BPL schedule.

“As per the current weather forecast, it is highly unlikely that we will get to play any matches at all in the next two days. So we have decided to suspend the matches on November 5 and 6 and resume the competition on November 8,” the BPL governing council's member-secretary IH Mallick told reporters at Mirpur yesterday evening.

“However, we can't do anything about the schedule if it keeps raining and many more matches are abandoned. It is not possible to delay the end of the league because the Bangladesh national team will be leaving for Australia on December 9 to prepare for the New Zealand series,” he added.

As per the current schedule, Barisal Bulls are scheduled to play Dhaka Dynamites in the afternoon of November 8, while Comilla Victorians are set to play Chittagong Vikings in the evening.

Mallick revealed that since Comilla are the reigning champions, they would swap the timings of the two matches on that particular day. The game between Comilla and Chittagong will now be played in the afternoon whereas Barisal will play Dhaka in the evening.

What remains uncertain is the fate of the matches that were supposed to be played on November 4. Comilla Victorians were supposed to play the Rajshahi Kings in the afternoon, while Rangpur Riders were set to play Khulna Titans in the evening. Both these matches have already been deemed as draws with each of the teams receiving one point each.

However, the BPL governing council is working on rescheduling these matches as well.

“As per the bylaws of the tournament, if all the stakeholders of the BPL, including all the seven franchises and sponsors, agree then we can replay the matches that were supposed to take place on November 4,” said BCB director Mahbub Anam.

The BPL governing council had the right to reschedule the matches set to take place on November 5 and 6 since the toss had not taken place. However, they could not have done that with the matches on November 4.

According to Anam, all the franchises, except for Comilla, had officially agreed to allow the matches on November 4 to be replayed.

“We had a meeting in the morning today and we have received official confirmation from all franchises except for Comilla. Comilla verbally agreed, but they will give us a confirmation only after their owners provide a decision,” Anam told reporters.

If Comilla do not agree, then the result of both the matches on November 4 will remain the same, i.e., each of the teams will receive one point each. If Comilla do agree, then those two matches will also be rescheduled in the reserve days.