Bangladesh Premier League to restart from Tuesday

Courtesy: Twitter (@OfficialBPL)

Dhaka: As persistent rain played spoilsport on the first two days of this year`s cricket tournament, the fourth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will be restarted on Tuesday, authorities announced on Sunday.

After the opening day Friday`s matches, pitting defending champions Comilla Victorians against Rajshahi Kings and Rangpur Riders against Khulna Titans had to be abandoned, the Barisal Bulls-Chittagong Vikings tie, too, was washed out on Saturday with the teams sharing points on all three occasions, reports bdnews24.com.

With the tournament yet to see a ball being bowled, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) then said both the matches on Saturday had been suspended and the Sunday fixtures had also been postponed owing to a rain forecast.

The restart will follow the prepared schedule as per the stipulated dates. Four of the first six matches, earlier scheduled from November 4 to 6, will be played later in the tournament.

"We couldn`t even start BPL because of the rain. We set 11 days aside in the schedule ... we can now make good use of it amid the unexpected rain. We will restart the games from Tuesday," said BPL member secretary Ismail Haider Mallick.

He said Rangpur Riders and Khulna Titans agreed to a rematch of their first day-match but Comilla Victorians and Rajshahi Kings were still undecided.

"The Governing Council has the authority to reschedule matches whenever necessary. But in case of a rematch, the relevant franchises and the BCB, everybody needs to be unanimous about the decision. Comilla and Rajshahi will give their decisions by 10 p.m. tonight (Sunday night)," he said.

He said the decision came at a meeting on Saturday involving the BPL governing council, representatives from the seven franchises and broadcasting and ticketing partners. Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan was present there as well.

The first match on Saturday was also abandoned due to rain but it was later marked as postponed before Mallick made the decision public in the evening at Mirpur`s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

When the matches will be replayed was still being worked out.

"We will try to reassign the five or six matches on November 10 and 14 and, if need be, we will hold three matches a day. November 20 is also an option for the rescheduled matches," Mallick said.

"The people who deal with the fixtures are on it. There may be a case when we may have to hold three matches a day. Then a match will be held in the morning."

According to espncricinfo, BCB vice-president Mahbubul Anam said doing different things for the opening days` games was not permissible under the rules.