BPL officials have failed to create market for the competition to add value to it, remarks Shakib Al Hasan

The new edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is all set to get underway on January 6 with Chattogram Challengers taking on Sylhet Strikers at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. A total of 46 matches will be played in the coming season, where seven teams will fight for the four spots in the Playoffs. The final is scheduled to take place in Dhaka as well, on February 16.

"There is no market (for BPL) because we could not create a market for it because if we could add value to it certainly this market would have been a big one. You won't find any remote area where cricket is not played. So it is difficult to believe there is no market in a country with a population of 16 to 20 Crore where the sport has such popularity. So this is a big failure from a marketing point of view because that is the reason we could not create a market like it (IPL).”

"I don't know why (there is no DRS) probably there is a budget crisis. I don't see any reason why we don't have DRS or a draft or auction before three months. Now a player will come and then will leave after one or two days,” the 35-year-old added.

“The players did not get their outfits. I saw these in your news. The situation is very bad. I think our Dhaka Premier League (DPL) maybe is better than this (BPL) because they get time to prepare the team at least. They know what is happening in the team so that they can prepare accordingly. If you see next year's DPL everyone knows who is playing for which team. We don't understand anything about BPL and it gets started after the match is played.”