No black and white in BPL, only grey areas

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) returned under seemingly auspicious circumstances, with a youth festival lending a vibrant touch to the event. Yet beneath the surface glamour lies a troubling reality as the tournament began without fulfilling basic requirements, most notably players’ payments.

This glaring oversight raises questions about the tournament’s organisational structure, or lack thereof.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Faruque Ahmed — appointed expressly through the National Sports Council (NSC) quota to steady the ship after previous board members had fled the scene following the political shift since August 5 — has had to spend most of his effort and time in holding this edition’s BPL since taking the BCB hot seat.

While the effort is laudable, there has been no indication that a proper structure for the BPL committee has been implemented, or at least initiated. In this case, despite the new-look board getting less than six months to prepare for the much-awaited tournament, it has little excuse for not forming a well-functioning committee to manage the BPL’s complexities by now.

On Monday, the BPL’s 11th edition rolled onto the turf amidst hustle and bustle and high-scoring games, but the structural integrity of the tournament remained vague. In fact, a lot of hotchpotch scenarios arose, with no bank guarantee money falling into BCB coffers from the franchises — a fundamental requirement to safeguard player payments in case the franchises fail to do so.

As the matches began, criticism intensified when it emerged that no players had received payments from the franchises. According to tournament bylaws, franchises are required to clear 50 per cent of player payments before the competition starts, another 25 per cent at the halfway point, and the final instalment at its conclusion.

After quite a bit of dawdling, the BCB president remarked yesterday that they are communicating with the franchises so that players receive their payments. It revealed the helplessness of an ineffective process, specifically in trying to bring the tournament up and running in a hurry.

“If you ask me to answer in black and white why this didn’t happen (franchises didn’t pay guarantee money), I won’t be able to provide a clear answer. You have to see the overall situation from everyone’s perspective over the last four months,” Faruque told reporters yesterday.

Considering the perspective of current Bangladesh, what could be the market strategy, how the franchises would go about their financial strategy, and a need for stability and continuation of franchises were key details that needed to be sorted out.

It appears that old goods are being sold in new packaging. The professionalism needed in a well-functioning tournament is missing, as evidenced by the mishap with player payments. It mimics the ventures of the past board, where one man was taking on multifaceted endeavours and finding himself with too much on his plate.

For instance, Faruque has personally engaged with franchise owners to foster a sense of partnership.

“I have spoken directly with the franchise as board president so that they feel that we are partners. They are also spending money for Bangladesh cricket,” he said.

The BCB president appears to be happy simply to get the show running, but a one-man show, as the past board has shown, usually fails to meet even the most basic requirements.