Bangladesh Cricket Board has advised the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League sides to maintain strict protocol in order to keep the players and the team management safe from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
With the participation of 12 premier cricket clubs of Dhaka, the league, named after the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman this season, is all set to start Sunday.
During the sponsor and logo unveiling ceremony at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka Saturday, BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said the board will meet the club representatives prior to the start of the tournament and ensure that the directives from the government regarding coronavirus are followed.
“We will follow the directives from the government related to coronavirus. Any player or official must immediately report to the team management or BCB medical team in case they fall sick or see any kind of symptoms. The clubs must contact us [the board] and we will take initiatives,” said Nizamuddin to the media.
The first phase of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League 2020 season will now take place in Dhaka instead of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar.https://t.co/WjAJC9u0WM#BCBTIGERS #BCB #TIGERS #BANGLADESHCRICKET #BANGLADESH #CRICKET #DHAKAPREMIERLEAGUE #DHAKA #PREMIER #LEAGUE #DPL
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) March 11, 2020
BCB is one among many sports organizations to have changed its planned activities owing to the rising concerns of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
Last week, the board was forced to postpone a mega concert and a two-match T20I series between a World XI and Asia XI, initially organized to mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu.
Handshakes between players and officials have been avoided across all sports in recent times to stop the spread of the virus.
In cricket, saliva is used by the players to shine the ball and avoiding this particular practice is being encouraged both in international and domestic competitions.
The @BCBtigers has decided to defer its plans to celebrate the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, due to rising concerns over the novel coronavirus in the country.https://t.co/NVxi0jdeqy#BCBTIGERS #BCB #TIGERS #BANGLADESHCRICKET
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) March 11, 2020
Nizamuddin informed that the Dhaka League teams will be advised to follow suit if need be.
"We will see to ways so that we can minimize the tradition of handshakes. Difficulty is that we are habituated to this. But we are discouraging this now. We [BCB] as a part of precaution decided to cut down on spectators in the stadium during international match [T20I series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe last week in Dhaka]. I do not think we need to put restrictions on spectators in Dhaka League but we will surely look strongly into the other measures,” Nizamuddin explained.
On the opening day of the tournament, defending champion Abahani Limited will take on Partex Sporting Club in Mirpur while in Savar, Legends of Rupganj will face off against Old DOHS Sports Club.
In the third game of the day, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club will lock horns with Brothers Union in Fatullah’s Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China in December last year, more than 133,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in 125 countries, including over 4,900 deaths.
