Bangladesh Premier League
| File:BPLOfficialLogo.png | |
| Countries |  Bangladesh |
|---|---|
| Administrator | BCB |
| Format | Twenty20 |
| First edition | 2012 |
| Latest edition | 2019 |
| Tournament format | Round-robin and Playoffs |
| Number of teams | 7 |
| Current champion |  Comilla Victorians (2nd title) |
| Most successful |  Dhaka Dynamites (3 titles) (2 as Dhaka Gladiators ) |
| Most runs | Tamim Iqbal (1825) |
| Most wickets | Shakib Al Hasan (106) |
| TV | List of broadcasters |
| Website | BPL |
 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League | |
| Tournaments | |
|---|---|
The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in Bangladesh. It is the 16th most attended premier league in the world. In November each team face each other twice in the league stage. Following the conclusion of the regular season, top four teams advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination game and two qualifier games culminating in the Championship game, between the winner of Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.
The Bangladesh Premier League was formed in 2011 by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, after the suspension of its predecessor organisation, 2009/10 National Cricket League Twenty20. The first season was held during February 2012, and the games were held across Dhaka and Chittagong. The BPL is headed by the chairman of its Governing Council.
The team with the most BPL titles are Dhaka Dynamites with three titles, including two consecutive titles during the first two seasons of the tournament as Dhaka Gladiators. Comilla Victorians and Rangpur Riders are the only other teams to be crowned champions. The current champions are Comilla Victorians, who defeated Dhaka Dynamites in BPL Season 6.
The 2020 version of BPL will be held without franchise involvement and Bangladesh Cricket Board will arrange the tournament. The decision came after the meeting between BCB and franchises owners whereas BCB failed to meet the demand placed by different team owners.[1]
History
Following the success of franchise Twenty20 cricket leagues such as the Indian Premier League around the world, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a plan to replace the National Cricket League with a franchise based league. On 18 January 2012 the board entered a 6-year, 350-crore deal with Game on Sports Group to establish a franchise tournament. The deal gave the group exclusive management rights to the tournament. The league was founded with six franchises from the largest cities of Bangladesh. During the franchise auction 13 companies took part in the bidding process, with six winning the rights of each clubs.
The first edition of the league officially kicked off on 9 February 2012, excluding a lavish opening ceremony at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The initial player auction was held on 18 and 19 January 2012 and the first match in the tournament staged on 9 February 2012 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium between Sylhet Royals and Barisal Burners. The first final game was between Dhaka Gladiators and Barisal Burners, with Dhaka Gladiators emerging as champions after winning by eight wickets. All matches in the first edition of the league were held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium and Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the country's second-largest city Chittagong.
Rangpur Riders were added as a seventh team for the second season. Dhaka Gladiators again emerged as champions beating Chittagong Kings in the final by 43 runs.Once again Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka hosted the final and most of the matches while the MA Aziz Stadium replaced the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong due to higher capacity and Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna (third-largest city) was added as the third venue.
Following accusations of match fixing during the 2012–13 season, the owners of all six original franchises were suspended in 2013 due to constant violations of the league regulations and constant delays in players’ salary handover. The owners of Dhaka Gladiators were handed a lifetime suspension by the governing committee.[2] A number of players and administrators were handed bans for match fixing, including the former captain of Bangladesh, Mohammad Ashraful.
Following the match fixing scandal, the league was not played in the year 2014. It returned in the 2015 with six new franchises and in was held in the winter season unlike Spring previously. Comilla Victorians won the competition, beating Barisal Bulls by three wickets. In advance of the 2016–17 edition of the league one franchise, the Sylhet Super Stars, was suspended following breaches of disciplinary regulations[3] and two new franchises, Khulna Titans and Rajshahi Kings, were introduced, bringing the number of teams in the competition back to seven.
In the 2016 edition, Dhaka Dynamites won the tournament for the third time by defeating Rajshahi Kings in the final.
In the 2017–18 edition of the league, the Sylhet franchise returned as the Sylhet Sixers with new ownership and management. As a result, the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium was also listed as a third venue. Barisal Bulls franchise was suspended due to financial mishaps.
2019-20 special edition
In September 2019, BCB President Nazmul Hasan Papon informed the media about certain changes in rules and regulations for the 2019–20 season and eliminating all franchises, BCB took over the charge and decided to run this tournament by the board itself and named the tournament as Bangabandhu BPL T20 2019 in order to pay homage to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his birth centenary.[4][5]
League organisation
At a corporate level, the Bangladesh Premier League considers itself an association made up of and financed by its member teams. All income generated through television rights, licensing agreements, sponsorship, ticket sales and other means is earned and shared between the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the participating franchises. The league is controlled by a Governing Council (GC). As the parent organisation, the Bangladesh Cricket Board appoints the GC's members.
As of the 2018–19 season, the league consists of seven franchises. Each team players every other team twice in the round-robin stage of the competition with the teams with the top 4 advancing to a series of play-off matches. These lead to a championship match in which the league champion is decided.
Barisal and Mymensingh are the only divisions in the country to not have any representative franchise in the league.
| Team | City | Home venue | Owner | Debut | Current Captain | Current Coach | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chattogram Challengers | Chittagong | Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium | None[a] | 2012 | Mahmudullah |
 Paul Nixon
| ||
| Cumilla Warriors | Comilla | None | Nafisa Kamal, Mustafa Kamal, Legends Sporting Limited[a] | 2015 |  Dasun Shanaka |
 Ottis Gibson
| ||
| Dhaka Platoon | Dhaka | Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium | Salman F Rahman, Shayan F Rahman, BEXIMCO[a] | 2012 | Mashrafe Mortaza |
Mohammad Salahuddin
| ||
| Khulna Tigers | Khulna | None | Gemcon Group[a] | 2012 | Mushfiqur Rahim |
James Foster
| ||
| Rajshahi Royals | Rajshahi | None | Mango Entertainment[a] | 2012 |  Andre Russell |
Owais Shah
| ||
| Rangpur Rangers | Rangpur | None | Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Safwan Sobhan, Bashundhara Group[a] | 2013 |  Mohammad Nabi |
 Mark O'Donnell
| ||
| Sylhet Thunder | Sylhet | Sylhet International Cricket Stadium | Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Shahed Muhith, Sylhet Sports Limited[a] | 2012 | Mosaddek Hossain |
 Herschelle Gibbs
| ||
| Defunct team | ||||||||
| Barisal Bulls | Barisal | None | None | 2012–2017 | — | — | ||
Draft system
The BPL operates a draft system to assign players to teams. New players can be chosen by franchises during an annual draft. Teams can also choose to retain players from one yer to the next and players can also be signed outside of the draft and traded between organisations. Since 2015, Imago Sports Management has been conducting the players draft event also is the official players management partner of Bangladesh Cricket Board for Bangladesh Premier League[6][7]
Tournament results
Statistics
Records include all matches played under the name of a franchise, even where the franchise has been suspended and re-created as a new organisation.
| Team | Performance | Standing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match | Win | Loss | Tied | No Results | Win Percentage | 2012 | 2013 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2019 | |
 Chattogram Challengers
|
72 | 30 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 41.67% | 5th | R | 6th | 4th | 7th | 4th |
| Cumilla Warriors
|
52 | 33 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 63.46% | DNP | C | 6th | 3rd | C | |
| Dhaka Platoon
|
79 | 48 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 60.75% | C | 4th | C | R | ||
 Khulna Tigers
|
61 | 25 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 40.98% | 4th | 7th | DNP | 3rd | 4th | 7th |
 Rajshahi Royals
|
63 | 30 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 47.62% | 3rd | 4th | R | 6th | 5th | |
 Rangpur Rangers
|
65 | 35 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 53.85% | DNP | 5th | 3rd | 5th | C | 3rd |
 Sylhet Thunder
|
57 | 23 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 40.35% | 6th | 3rd | 5th | DNP | 5th | 6th |
 Barisal Bulls
|
49 | 24 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 48.98% | R | 5th | R | 7th | DNP | |
| Teams | Span | Champion(s) | Runner–up(s) | Appearances | Playoffs | League Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhaka Platoon |
2012 – present | 3 (2012, 2013, 2016) | 2 (2017, 2019) | 6 | 1 (2015) | 0 |
 Cumilla Warriors |
2015 – present | 2 (2015, 2019) | 0 | 4 | 1 (2017) | 1 (2016) |
| Rangpur Rangers |
2013 – present | 1 (2017) | 0 | 5 | 2 (2015, 2019) | 2 (2013, 2016) |
| Barisal Bulls |
2012 – 2016 | 0 | 2 (2012, 2015) | 4 | 0 | 2 (2013, 2016) |
| Rajshahi Royals |
2012 – present | 0 | 1 (2016) | 5 | 2 (2012, 2013) | 2 (2017, 2019) |
| Chattogram Challengers |
2012 – present | 0 | 1 (2013) | 6 | 2 (2016, 2019) | 3 (2012, 2015, 2017) |
| Khulna Tigers |
2012 – present | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 (2012, 2016, 2017) | 2 (2013, 2019) |
| Sylhet Thunder |
2012 – present | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 (2013) | 4 (2012, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
Sponsorship
For the first season of the tournament, Bangladeshi conglomerate Destiny Group was the main sponsor of the tournament, negotiating a one-year sponsorship package for 75 million taka (US$1.0 million). Prime Bank Limited was awarded with the sponsorship deal for the second season for 100 million taka (US$1.5 million). BRB Cables Limited held the sponsorship rights for third season in 2015 with 150 million taka (US$2.0 million). Abul Khair Steel (AKS), a sister concern group of Abul Khair Industries Limited became the title sponsor of the fourth and fifth edition.
| Season | Sponsorship Rights | Gross Revenues Earned[10] | Broadcasting Rights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Destiny Group ৳7.5 crore (US$630,000) |
৳354.7 crore (US$30 million) | Channel Nine ৳632 crore (US$53 million) four-year broadcasting rights (2012–16)[11] |
| 2013 | Prime Bank Limited ৳10 crore (US$840,000) |
৳302 crore (US$25 million) | |
| 2015–16 | BRB Cables Industries Limited ৳15 crore (US$1.3 million) |
৳266.5 crore (US$22 million) | |
| 2016–17 | Abul Khair Steel (AKS) and Shah Cement ৳22 crore (US$1.8 million) |
৳433 crore (US$36 million) (2016–17) | |
| Unpublished | GTV and Maasranga ৳640 crore (US$53 million) three-year broadcasting rights (2017–2019)[12] | ||
| 2019–present | United Commercial Bank (UCB) and TVS Motor | ||
| Akash DTH and TVS Apache | TBD |
Broadcasters
| Territory | Years | Television | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh
|
2017–present | GTV Maasranga |
YouTube on Rabbitholebd |
| Caribbean islands | 2017–present | Flow Sports | |
 India
|
2019–present | DSport | |
| Middle East and North Africa | 2018–present | CRICINGIF | |
 Pakistan
|
2017–present | Geo Super | YouTube on Rabbitholebd |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 2016–present | StarTimes | |
 South Korea Japan China  Russia
|
2017–present | Ticon System Ltd. | |
| Southeast Asia | 2016–present | SportsFix | |
 United Kingdom
|
2017–present | Star Gold | Hotstar |
 United States  Canada
|
2017–present | Willow | |
| Rest of the world | 2019–present | YouTube on Rabbitholebd |
See also
- List of Bangladesh Premier League captains
- List of Bangladesh Premier League records and statistics
- Bangladesh Cricket Board
Notes
References
- ^ "BCB set to arrange BPL without the franchises this year". The Daily Star. Dhaka. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
- ^ Pieal, Jannatul. "Rangpur cleared to bid again, BPL-3 may see eight teams". bdcricteam. bdcricteam.com. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- ^ Eighty-five players picked in BPL 2016–17 draft, ESPNcricinfo, 30 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
- ^ "BCB to conduct T20 tournament instead of BPL after fallout with franchises". Cricbuzz. 11 September 2019.
- ^ "বিসিবিই চালাবে বিপিএল, থাকছে না কোনো ফ্র্যাঞ্চাইজি". Prothom Alo (in Bengali). 11 September 2019.
- ^ "BPL 2015 players draft". Imagosports. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "The business of sports". Dhaka Tribune. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ a b "Cricket Records | Bangladesh Premier League | Records | Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Cricket Records | Bangladesh Premier League | Records | Series results". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
- ^ "How Much Did BCB Earn from BPL?". The Bengali Times. thebengalitimes.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
- ^ Isam, Mohammad. "BCB sells worldwide media rights for $20.02 million". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ^ সংবাদদাতা, নিজস্ব. "বিপিএল-এর সম্প্রচার স্বত্ব ৮১ কোটিতে বিক্রি". anandabazar.com. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
| Seasons |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Finals | ||
| Participating teams | ||
| Defunct/Suspended teams | ||
| Venues | ||
| Squads | ||
| Auctions | ||
| Statistics and records | ||
| Lists | ||
| Related topics | ||
| National teams | |
|---|---|
| First-class leagues | |
| First-class teams | |
| List A league(s) | |
| List A teams | |
| Twenty20 league(s) | |
| Grounds | |
| Other tournaments |
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