The 2014-15 Dhaka Premier League (DPL) cricket season, scheduled to begin from October 10, is likely to be postponed again after Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan raised objections over its scheduling in a meeting held on Monday.
The 2013-14 season of the prestigious 50-over tournament in the country was overlooked and a vital season was lost but Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis chairman AJM Nasiruddin was hardly concerned as he informed, “I do not know what a season is. What is a season? There is nothing called a season here. Just like the [Dhaka Premier] league began in September last year, it will start in October this year.” However, the one that did take place last year was that of the 2012-13 season, which began a year late.
Recently, the BCB supremo raised objections over the start of the 2014-15 DPL as Bangladesh are slated to play Test matches at home against Zimbabwe in November. As a result, Nazmul is willing to start the National Cricket League (NCL), a four-day first-class competition, ahead of the series to give the cricketers some much-needed practice.
Meanwhile, a few clubs have already signed cricketers for the upcoming season as the official players’ transfer was scheduled to be held on August 4-5 but the officials who were present in Monday’s meeting changed the cricket calender.
After attending the meeting, former captain and BCB game development committee chairman Khaled Mahmud informed that they are yet to take a final decision over the scheduling of the DPL. “We have discussed the calendar but we are yet to take any decision. But as of this moment, we are planning to hold the NCL ahead of the DPL if Zimbabwe arrive in November,” said Mahmud.
“The series against Zimbabwe will start with the Test matches so we thought that if we can start the NCL ahead of the series it will help the preparation of the cricketers but if Zimbabwe do not come then the dates of starting the DPL will not change,” added Mahmud.
According to the previous schedule, Bangladesh were scheduled to face Zimbabwe in a Test series at home after the DPL. Following the Zimbabwe series, the NCL was slated to take place which would have been followed by the 2015 ICC World Cup.
