Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan on Sunday said there will be no Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) this year due to the circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He, however, also said that the Dhaka Premier Division League (DPDCL) might take place if the ongoing BCB President’s Cup and a proposed T20 league go well abiding by the Covid-19 health protocol.

“Everything is depending on the situation we are going through. There will be no BPL this year because BPL requires the inclusion of the foreign cricketers which is tough now due to the Covid-19 situation. At the same time, we need to ensure a better production system. If we can manage these, there will be no problem (to host BPL), but the things are bigger here. So we have no BPL in our sight,” Nazmul told the media.

“I think hosting an event like BPL will not be easy for us in Bangladesh. We know that most of the franchisees have to tackle many problems to run a team of BPL. And the bio-secure bubble which has been put in place in England and UAE (for IPL) is not possible in Bangladesh. I think it’s not possible for our franchisees to spend that much money to secure a high-quality bio-secure bubble for the teams,” Nazmul added.

Before the ongoing BCB President’s Cup, the last competitive game in Bangladesh took place back in March this year. It means there was no game of cricket in the country for more than six months. This year’s DPDCL has been postponed in March indefinitely. However, BCB president says they might go ahead with the plan of continuing the DPDCL this year.

“We have discussed the possibility to host the DPDCL this year. Most of us agreed that it’s possible. But we have to keep everything in mind. We have to make a detailed plan so that we can think about the possible problems and solutions. The biggest challenge is to put a big bio-secure bubble and keep the players and the team management in a secure environment, which we will do for the proposed T20 league. Our clubs are unable to accommodate their team in an expensive hotel. So we have discussed BKSP as the possible venue, where all the team can stay and play in three different fields. You will come to know within a few days what we are thinking about DPDC,” Nazmul further told the media.

Earlier, many cricketers, who are highly dependent on their income from the domestic leagues, requested BCB to host domestic events so that they can earn and tackle the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Along with them, Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) also urged BCB to come up with a way to host the domestic events.