The new edition of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament stroked its first controversy when authorities allowed the franchises to hire some international cricketers beyond the official process.
The BPL governing council on Wednesday named 122 local and 196 international cricketers, who will be picked by six franchises through a recruitment process called ‘players by choice’ on October 26.
The list did not include some seasoned campaigners like Chris Gayle of West Indies, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka and Shahid Afridi of Pakistan.
Former Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik made the list, but BPL officials said they are going to drop his name as the in-form cricketer along with other Twenty20 megastars have already been picked by different franchisees with an undisclosed amount.
The maximum price cap for foreign players in the third edition of the tournament is $70,000 but BPL officials said these stars were not available with this limited amount of money.
‘Some franchises have contracted the top-grade players individually,’ BPL governing council secretary Ismail Haider said at a press conference at Mirpur on Wednesday.
‘Like [Kumar] Sangakkara joined Dhaka, [Shoaib] Malik in Comilla, [Chris] Gayle in Barisal, Thisara Perera in Rangpur, Tillakaratne [Dilshan] in Chittagong and [Shahid] Afridi in Sylhet. So they have withdrawn their name.
‘If they were in our list they would not have received more than $70,000. But when franchises contracted them directly it’s natural their demand would go high,’ he said.
BPL secretary added that they will not take the responsibility of more than $70,000 and the player will have to sign a form declaring the total amount he was going to receive and how.
Haider claimed that this will remove the chance of tax dodging, money laundering and underhand dealing.
‘If necessary we will ask the franchises to disclose the amount,’ he said.
The BPL secretary however admitted the high price tag for foreign players is discriminatory for some of the local cricketers, who deserve better than the amount that has been stipulated for them.
Each of the six local icons – Sakib al Hasan, Mashrafee bin Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain and Mushfiqur –will receive Tk 35 lakh each while 16 Grade-A player will get Tk 25 lakh each.
The price tag for other local players is – Tk 18lakh for Grade-B, Tk 12lakh for Grade-C and Tk five lakh for Grade-D.
The BPL authority will select one icon player for each franchise and the rest will be picked by lottery.
‘Yes, some of our players were undervalued,’ said Haider. ‘But we have to do this for the sake of tournament. We considered the payment scale of Dhaka Premier League. Our players get more or less this kind of amount.’
Each franchise will be able to register maximum 12 foreign players but only four players will be allowed to play in one game.
The tournament will start on November 22 with the opening ceremony scheduled on November 20.
The BCB said it has planned to arrange a gala opening featuring Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan, Jacqueline Fernandez. Either of local music icons Runa Laila, Sabina Yasmin and Momtaz could also perform in the opening ceremony alongside prominent Bangladeshi band groups LRB and Chirkut.
‘The tournament requires some glamour, so we are planning to bring some Indian artistes. Our own artistes will accompany them,’ said BCB’s media committee chairman Jalal Yunus.
-With New Age input
