Inaugural edition of Women’s Bangladesh Premier League to get underway after BPL

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is all set to launch the inaugural edition of the Women’s Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL). The tournament will get underway a day after the conclusion of the ongoing Men’s BPL season on February 7. According to Cricbuzz, Women’s BPL will be played from February 8 to 15.

Earlier, BCB women’s wing chairman Nazmul Abedin had confirmed that the board was mulling over the idea of launching the franchise-based T20 tournament for women cricketers. For now, the tournament will have three teams to retain the quality of the competition. 

“The plan is to conduct it (WBPL) with three teams. To organize a quality tournament, you need a sufficient pool of talented players. Expanding beyond three teams would dilute the quality. Although we considered four teams, we decided this format was more feasible,” Nazmul said.

Each team will be allowed one foreign player in WBPL

Nazmul has also confirmed that each of the three teams will be allowed to field one foreign player in the playing XI in WBPL. All the teams will have 15 local players each with the foreign player quota remaining open for them. All the matches are set to take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Limiting the tournament to just three teams is a strategic decision from the BCB as a lot depends on the availability of the best players in the country. Men’s BPL has faced a lot of issues over the years with franchises pulling out and the recent issue related to unpaid salaries of the players. For the unversed, a few days ago, Durbar Rajshahi players canceled their practice session in Chattogram.

The overseas players and coaching staff received 25% of the payment but Durbar Rajshahi couldn’t keep their commitment with the local cricketers. However, the issue was soon resolved with the franchise publicly apologizing to the players. However, Nazmul has assured that the WBPL would avoid the financial and logistical challenges. The full schedule of the inaugural edition of the Women’s BPL is expected to be announced soon with only three weeks to go for the competition.