BPL finally approves six franchisees

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) governing council finalised six franchisees for the third edition of the tournament which promised to be a new-look, free from all kinds of irregularities, something that seriously affected the credibility of the tournament in the past two versions. The curtain of the BPL-3 will be raised on November 22 with a glittering opening ceremony at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The first match however will be taken place at the same venue on November 24.
Among the six teams, three new franchisees have been included while three old franchisees retained their participation by clearing the outstanding dues of the past two editions as well as provided the required bank guarantee and pay-order worth Tk. 5.50 crore for this edition. Country’s leading corporate house Beximco Limited acquired the ownership of Dhaka and will probably play in the names of Dhaka Dynamites. Axiom Technologies got Barisal while DBL group obtained Chittagong. These three enterprises are the new face in the BPL. Royal Sporting who was the owner of Sylhet Royals in the past two seasons this time got the ownership of Comilla Legend. I Sport retained their old team Rangpur Riders while Aleef Group who was the owner of Barisal Burners this time got Sylhet. The name of the team is yet to be decided.
“There were two more aspirants but we stuck our decision to start the tournament with six teams this time,” said BPL member secretary I.H. Mallick at a press conference adding they would increase the team to 10 gradually. Governing council chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha, media and communication committee chairman Jalal Younis, director Sheikh Sohel, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan and BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury were also present.
BRB Cables acquired the title sponsorship and in stadia rights, informed the governing council. “All of the enterprises submitted the Expression of Interest (EOI), disclosing which team they want to get. Axiom wanted Barisal and that’s why we gave them that. Aleef Group though wanted Barisal, we couldn’t give them that because we gave the words to Axiom. Later they chose Sylhet,” Mallick said.
He also clarified how Royal Sporting got the team like Comilla which even is not a division. “Now Mymensingh is declared as division and Comilla could be announced soon. That’s why we now consider the city corporation not division. If the city corporation is 20, still we’ll stick to 10 teams.” Mallick said the member of the governing council by no means could join any side in any capacity.
“But the director who is not included with the governing council and the coaching staffs of the national team could join.” BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon and Mallick himself are the employee of the Beximco who now owns the Dhaka franchise. There was volley of questions whether there will be conflict of interest. Mallick explained: “Beximco is a huge group. I personally work in Beximco Pharma. President is the high ups of Beximco but no one of us is the owner of Beximco. We have no connection with the team that Beximco acquires. So there is no question of conflict of interest.”

BPL finally approves six franchisees

The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) governing council finalised six franchisees for the third edition of the tournament which promised to be a new-look, free from all kinds of irregularities, something that seriously affected the credibility of the tournament in the past two versions. The curtain of the BPL-3 will be raised on November 22 with a glittering opening ceremony at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The first match however will be taken place at the same venue on November 24. Among the six teams, three new franchisees have been included while three old franchisees retained their participation by clearing the outstanding dues of the past two editions as well as provided the required bank guarantee and pay-order worth Tk. 5.50 crore for this edition. Countrys leading corporate house Beximco Limited acquired the ownership of Dhaka and will probably play in the names of Dhaka Dynamites. Axiom Technologies got Barisal while DBL group obtained Chittagong. These three enterprises are the new face in the BPL. Royal Sporting who was the owner of Sylhet Royals in the past two seasons this time got the ownership of Comilla Legend. I Sport retained their old team Rangpur Riders while Aleef Group who was the owner of Barisal Burners this time got Sylhet. The name of the team is yet to be decided. There were two more aspirants but we stuck our decision to start the tournament with six teams this time, said BPL member secretary I.H. Mallick at a press conference adding they would increase the team to 10 gradually. Governing council chairman Afzalur Rahman Sinha, media and communication committee chairman Jalal Younis, director Sheikh Sohel, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan and BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury were also present. BRB Cables acquired the title sponsorship and in stadia rights, informed the governing council. All of the enterprises submitted the Expression of Interest (EOI), disclosing which team they want to get. Axiom wanted Barisal and thats why we gave them that. Aleef Group though wanted Barisal, we couldnt give them that because we gave the words to Axiom. Later they chose Sylhet, Mallick said. He also clarified how Royal Sporting got the team like Comilla which even is not a division. Now Mymensingh is declared as division and Comilla could be announced soon. Thats why we now consider the city corporation not division. If the city corporation is 20, still well stick to 10 teams. Mallick said the member of the governing council by no means could join any side in any capacity. But the director who is not included with the governing council and the coaching staffs of the national team could join. BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon and Mallick himself are the employee of the Beximco who now owns the Dhaka franchise. There was volley of questions whether there will be conflict of interest. Mallick explained: Beximco is a huge group. I personally work in Beximco Pharma. President is the high ups of Beximco but no one of us is the owner of Beximco. We have no connection with the team that Beximco acquires. So there is no question of conflict of interest.