Expected exodus sees onus on locals grow
The second Dhaka phase of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) begins today where the focus will be on how the franchises deal with the imminent exodus of foreign players and can local players step up to fill that void.
Like most BPL editions, Pakistani players make up a huge chunk of the total foreign recruits this season and they are set to leave very soon for the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which will begin on February 17.
Rangpur Riders will lose Babar Azam, Comilla Victorians will let go of Mohammad Rizwan and Fortune Barishal will lose Mohammad Imran Junior and Abbas Afridi on February 7.
Barishal's all-rounder Shoaib Malik will leave on February 15 while Khulna Tigers are hoping to retain Mohammad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz till the start of the Chattogram phase, which will begin on February 13.
The franchises are holding out hope that the PCB would extend the NOCs of some of the Pakistani players for a few more days.
Last season, in a similar situation, the PCB had asked its players to return expressly from BPL, leading to chaos among the franchises.
Rangpur will also lose Afghan recruits Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi, who will play for Afghanistan in their ODI series against Sri Lanka, set to begin on February 9.
Sri Lanka's Avishka Fernando has already departed from Chattogram Challengers but the franchise is expecting to hold onto other foreign stars till the Chattogram phase.
Khulna will get some reinforcements when Shai Hope and Oshane Thomas join the side following the end of West Indies' tour of Australia on February 19.
The departure of so many overseas recruits doesn't bode well for the tournament, where big scores have been a rarity.
The recently concluded Sylhet phase producing only 138.17 runs per innings, lowest ever at the venue in BPL, and the tournament is yet to see a 200-run total nor a century.
With the departure of so many overseas names and a return to the notoriously slow Dhaka pitches, more low-scoring matches are most likely in store in the next few days.
Recently, Rangpur all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan had said in a press conference that the pitches have been less conducive to batting this year, a sentiment his
Pakistani teammate Babar shared yesterday, saying that 'BPL has to improve' in terms of pitches.
Several big names are expected to join the BPL at the latter half of the season after the SA20 and ILT20 conclude.
But before the overseas players arrive, the onus will be on the local stars to deliver and save the tournament from becoming a drab affair.