Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League has finalized 6 franchises for the 8th edition to be played in Jan-Feb 2022.
Earlier BCB president Nazmal stated that 8 franchises had expressed their interest. It’s learnt that Rupa and Marn group for Dhaka Division, MindTree for Khulna Division and Pragati Group for Sylhet Division are new franchises for an upcoming edition.
They will be joined by 3 old franchises- Fortune Group for Barisal Division, Akhtar Group by Chattogram Division and Lotus Group by Comilla Victorians. Noteworthy that Comilla Victorians didn’t take part in the last edition. BPL 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19.
Only 3 overseas players will be allowed in each XI
All these team contracts will be for one year only as BCB would want to expand it next year. However, there is one big hurdle in the scheduling of this edition as it will clash with PSL 2022. BPL 2022 is tentatively scheduled from January 20 to February 20.
In the meantime, Chattogram Challengers managing director KM Rifatuzzaman confirmed to the reporters that only 3 overseas players will be allowed in the upcoming edition.
He told, ”In the last edition, there was a provision of playing four overseas players while in this edition three players will be taking part for each franchise. The date for the draft is yet to be finalized and once it is finalized we would be more organized.
“You know that the players’ draft of PSL is taking place today, and after it is completed we can have a clear picture about the availability of the foreign players in the competition and can let you know who we are going to confirm.”
Other than PSL, it will also clash with the final week of Big Bash League 2021-22 so the availability of players will be a big concern for BCB.
However, BPL governing council member Sheikh Sohel is more concerned about Covid-19 than players availability. He said, “We are not worried about the PSL and we are expecting to host the players draft of this month but the only thing that we are worried about is the corona situation.”
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