The unfinished edition of Dhaka Premier League season from last year is now planned to resume on May 31. The traditional 50-over tournament however will be played in T-20 format.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) have come to the fresh decision after the previous plan of resuming the tournament on May 6 got called off due to the upsurge of the Covid-19 situation in the country.
According to the latest decision, the league will be held after Bangladesh’s ODI series at home against Sri Lanka later this month and it came as a relief to the cricketers and also the clubs as BCB president Nazmul Hasan had last month cited slim chances for the tournament to take place.
CCDM chairman Kazi Inam through a statement on Sunday said the T20 format has been considered due to the busy international schedule and also to give the players some T20 game time having the ICC World T20 is scheduled later this year.
“The CCDM with the support of the BCB plans to organize the DPL from May 31. As decided earlier it will be a T20 event. Considering the busy international schedule and the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, we believe that T20 is the ideal format for the 2019-20 League,” said Inam in a statement on Sunday.
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“BCB President (Nazmul) has given a clear direction on the importance of players’ safety during these times. The Board has successfully completed two tournaments this season and has hosted the West Indies in Bangladesh. We will draw from these learnings and make plans for the Bangabandhu DPL accordingly. We know what this league means to the players and clubs and appreciate their support during the planning stage,” BCB director Inam further added.
Dhaka Premier League got suspended in March last year with cases of Covid-19 hitting the country for the first time. The season had hosted first round of matches before BCB came to decision of suspending all forms of cricket under its jurisdiction in the country. Since then, the board and CCDM made many plans to bring the tournament back to the field but were denied by the Covid-19 situation.