The ninth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) begins on January 6. There are seven franchise teams in it, and they will compete in 46 games in Dhaka, Chattogram, and Sylhet. On February 16, the championship game will take held in Dhaka. One of the first major T20 franchise leagues to be founded.
Really?
In fact, the BPL’s first season began in 2012, coming before either the Pakistan Super League or the Caribbean Premier League. Almost every significant T20 superstar, with the exception of the Indian players, has participated in this competition at some point.
akin to who?
David Warner, Alex Hales, Rashid Khan, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, and Andre Russell have all participated in this competition. Early in their careers, players like Jofra Archer, Nicholas Pooran, and Mohammad Nabi all participated in the BPL.
Who are the major talents heading to BPL this year, then?
The problem is this. The BPL was very slow to sign players for this season. The International League T20 in the UAE and the SA20 in South Africa, two new events on the schedule that coincide with the BPL, as well as the Big Bash League in Australia, make this a very hectic season. By the time the BPL draught rolled around on November 23, many of the greatest talents had already been snatched up elsewhere.
Therefore, no one is coming.
A few Pakistani athletes, including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, will compete in the BPL in 2023. Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe and Dawid Malan of England both participate.
Why should I watch the BPL if the greatest T20 talents are competing elsewhere at the same time?
All of Bangladesh’s top T20 players, including Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman, are eligible for the BPL.
The three T20I players who have all retired, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza, and Mushfiqur Rahim, will also be on display throughout this competition. This competition will provide cricketers like Curtis Campher, Max O’Dowd, Brandon King, Chamika Karunaratne, and Paul van Meekeren a chance to showcase their talents before a large audience.
You must agree that Bangladesh’s T20 progress depends on this event.
It seems incongruous that Bangladesh has a lucrative T20 franchise league in which so many local players participate every year given how frequently they suffer in T20I cricket. The BPL franchises, however, rely significantly on foreign athletes.
Domestic cricketers are typically limited to supporting roles and rarely have to deal with pressure situations. The uncommon T20 talent is still discovered, as was the case last year when Munim Shahriar gave a sneak preview of his power-hitting prowess. He was swiftly selected for the T20I team but hasn’t really shown himself there.
Do the BPL’s off-field issues also occur frequently?
Countless them. The BPL has seen it all, from the massive match-fixing scandal of 2013 to clubs not being able to pay players on time, to a mix-up on the points table leading to uncertainty over who had made the semifinals, to teams attempting to field players without the necessary papers.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz came dangerously close to quitting the tournament midway through the previous season following a disagreement with a team official, which led to his removal as captain and accusations of meddling in the XI-naming process. Last season, the team’s ownership changed at the last minute as well, although this is extremely common.