Bangladesh’s star opener Tamim Iqbal said that other than an increase in the number of concerts, the southpaw has not seen anything different happening in the build of the 11th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), set to begin tomorrow with the game between Tamim-led Fortune Barishal and Durbar Rajshahi.
“First of all, honestly speaking, I didn’t see any difference apart from the concerts,” Tamim said during a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur today.
Unlike the previous editions of the BPL, this year the country’s only franchise-based T20 tournament was marked by three different concerts – one each in Dhaka, Chattogram, and Sylhet, the three venues for the tournament.
The previous editions of the tournament saw just a single opening ceremony.
Inaugurated in 2012 with the aim of following in on the footsteps of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the BPL has lagged behind in many aspects – including but not limited to fanbase creation, crowd-pulling, recruitment of star foreign players, and most importantly, the quality of cricket – even after over a decade of its inception.
Talks of doing something different always make headlines ahead of the tournament, but the standard of cricket has never been close to what is seen in top franchise-based T20 tournaments like IPL.
“I feel that if we want to arrange a different type of BPL, we need to invest in cricket. That’s the most important thing. We need to invest in the tournament, not in the concerts or anything else. If we invest in cricket and also in the tournament, we can say that it’s a new type of BPL.
“Concerts were held before and it’s also been held this time. It was a great program although I wasn’t in the country. But it’s a little bit early to comment this time. I don’t know what actually is on offer for us tomorrow. It’s not fair to make a comment and it is presented badly. If somebody asks for my advice, I can say that if you want to change BPL, then invest in the tournament and cricket,” Tamim added, pinpointing where the money needs to be put in to actually make BPL a success.
daily star
