The New Dimension of Cricket: BPL (Bangladesh Premiere League)

Twenty20 format made cricket very popular, but club cricket league like club Football league sky-rocketed the popularity of cricket. Currently, IPL (Indian Premier League) and CLT20 (Champions League Twenty20) are the two existing most popular club cricket tournaments with the top players of the world played in India. But it seems the surprise is not over yet. There is a new tournament waiting to entertain every cricket fan all over the world, and it is BPL (Bangladesh Premiere League). To be honest, it sounds like Barclays Premiere League--the most exciting Football league in the world though the most valuable player of the world Christiano Ronaldo denied that a few days ago! Arun Lal, consultant to Game on Sports of India is the organizer of the tournament, and they have six years rights which cost 44 million dollars.

Let’s get into BPL. It starts from February 9 and ends with the Grand Finale on February 29. There are six teams to be played in a round robin league format which means total 33 matches will be played in twenty days. One of the major positive aspects of the BPL is that unlike IPL it includes five foreign players in the starting squad. This could be a vital factor to determine the popularly of the tournament. There are six icon players for the six teams. They are Tamim Iqbal (Chittagong), Mohammad Ashraful (Dhaka), Alok Kapali (Sylhet), Shahriar Nafees (Barisal), Mushfiqur Rahim--the ruling skipper of Bangladesh (Rajshahi), and Shakib Al Hasan-- the #1 all rounder of the world both in ODI and Test format (Khulna). Each place represents one division of Bangladesh. Currently, it has six divisions out of the seven divisions of Bangladesh. The match will be played at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium (Dhaka) and Zahur Ahmed Stadium (Port city Chittagong). Some matches of ICC World Cup 2011 were also played in these two stadiums. Auction for the franchises starts fifth January and the auction for the players starts 14^th and 15^th January.

Cricket fans will be very surprised to know that about 25 foreign players confirmed their participation in the tournament. Amazing Adam Gilchrist, marvelous Matthew Hayden, English speed star James Anderson, swashbuckling Kieron Pollard, and Dwayne Bravo will be the integral part of the BPL. In fact, one hundred foreign players are expected to beautify the tournament. In terms of the participation of the players, the most exciting news for the cricket fans is that unlike IPL Pakistani players are free to play in Bangladesh. Certainly, it will add a lot of spice to the tournament. But BPL might miss the Indian players due to some overlap of schedule.

We really hope BPL will take cricket to the next level. It seems that they have done their homework pretty well. It is also a great opportunity for the Bangladeshi players to sharpen their talents. Good luck BPL, good luck Bangladesh!