Galaxy of cricket stars to play in maiden BPL T20

Admin Fri Dec 23, 2011 4:14 pm

The likes of Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo, Muttiah Muralitharan, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne have given their preliminary consent to play in Bangladesh Premier League which is going to take place for the first time in country. Over 40 foreign cricket players have given their consent and commitments to play in the BPL, organisers said.
The number might be increased within the few more days to touch 100, they hoped.
Arun Lal, former Indian cricketer, renowned commentator and chief consultant of Games on Sports Management Company of India revealed this at a Franchises Education Programme on the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) Twenty20 at a city hotel on Thursday.
“We have got the tacit consent and commitment from 40 more foreign cricketers to date. The number will be increased within a few weeks. We all hope it will be around 100 players,” Arun Lal said.
With Arun Lal, Amrit Mathur, CEO of Delhi Daredevils team was present in the programme, where they exchanged their views and shared their valuable experiences about the initial phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the most popular cricket event across the globe.
“We all invested a huge amount of money behind the new version of cricket (IPL) in India despite a lot of fear, risk and acrid criticism from the vested quarters ahead of the event. Primarily, we had also doubt about the most popular event of cricket. But it has been turned into the most remunerative business,” Arun Lal, the former Indian cricketers added.
“To see the popularity of the game in India, Australia and South Africa also launched such type of cricket game but they could not popularise it like India as they could not create passion for such type of cricket.”
Terming the prospect of the game in sub-continent, the renowned commentator of India said, “Passion for the sports in Bangladesh has been greater than Pakistan and Sri Lanka. So, we’re hopeful of popularising the game in Bangladesh.”
“It will be market based competition, where performance will be focused more and rewarded for it. Top most cricketers in the world will play here. Bangladeshi players performed against them. It will also be a huge opportunity for younger Bangladeshi cricket players to brighten their future prospect..”
Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, director of BCB and chairman of BPL governing body said, “The schedule of the domestic cricket will not be hampered because of BPL. After that, the popularity of the game will be higher in the country.”
Anjan Ganguly, director of Games on Sports Management Company of India and Shafiqur Rahman Munna, director of BCB and BCB’s officials, among others, were also present on the occasion.