Bangladesh Premier League, aka BPL, is a franchise cricket league in Bangladesh. This year it is celebrating its 10th edition. There were many ups and downs. But one thing remains which I hate most. That is venue selection.
Bangladesh is a cricket-loving Nation. Though our national team never won anything big, we still love cricket from our hearts. We celebrate every achievement, whether it's little or big. But when it comes to BPL, the scenario changes. You will see an empty gallery while BPL is going on. Why did this happen to a cricket-loving Nation?
From the beginning of this tournament, it was played only in two stadiums. The home ground of Bangladesh Cricket Team, Sher-A-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Mirpur* and Johur Ahmed Choudhary Stadium in the port city of Bangladesh, Chittagong. However, BPL was attractive for the first three editions. Later it lost the attraction from the people. BPL's nasty schedule caused that.
Let's look at this edition of the BPL schedule. Every day, two matches. There are 7 teams. It means one team has to play back-to-back days. Things get worse when you find out that two teams have to play back-to-back days. After a couple of days of playing, there is a day off.
Then there are two days off. Because all teams will move to another city. The same thing will happen then. A day, two matches. After a couple of days playing, a day off! Then, all teams have to move again to another city. They named it a phase. There are a lot of stadiums in Bangladesh. But they will have to play only in 3 stadiums. They have a schedule from one phase to another phase.
In the other franchise tournament, they have one day, one match. IPL and BBL are so popular because of that. They have different stadiums. Every team has their home stadium. They face each other on a home and away-basis. In BPL, there is no chance to do that. How do you think the fans will come to watch those boring games? That's why BPL lost its attraction. This is my problem with the BPL schedule. However, this is our League, and we expect it will be like other successful franchises like IPL, BPL, PSL, or LPL.