The lottery begins

Instead of the players transfer process or auction, the cricketers of the Dhaka Premier League will find their clubs through a lottery that is scheduled to be held on June 20 at the capital. With all the complicacies surrounding the players transfer process, Bangladesh Cricket Board and the clubs decided to hold the lottery to disseminate the 184 players for the 12 participating clubs. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. Presided over by Jalal Yunus the meeting decided to distribute the players through the lottery, an unprecedented event in the DPL.  Earlier, National Cricket League saw the players’ distribution taking place by a lottery. However, the rotation and the mode of calling the numbers were yet to be finalised and Jalal said the whole system will be revealed tomorrow officially. The system will see the name of the four A+ players along with eight blank coupons kept in a pot while the names of the 12 participating clubs remaining in another pot. Each club will pick the coupons leaving only four clubs in getting the top cricketers.  There will be a total of five grades with ‘A+’ priced at Tk2.2m, ‘A’ at Tk1.5m, ‘B+’ at Tk1m, ‘B’ at Tk800,000 and ‘C’ priced at Tk250,000.  Jalal admitted that the process will be complicated and not flawless.  “Yes, there will be flaws as many teams will not be able to pick their preferred players, but for the greater sake of the cricket the clubs and the BCB  decided to go through this system. It is not permanent and will be applicable for this season only,” said Jalal.  Asked if there were any advance payments to the players by any club, Jalal said the Board has not  received any documents regarding the issue. “The Board asked the clubs to submit the documents if they have paid any player in advance, but no club has submitted any claims. We don’t have anything to do,” said Jalal.