Reports | No overseas players in upcoming edition of Dhaka Premier League

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has announced that there will be zero participation of foreign cricketers in the upcoming country's traditional List A tournament, Dhaka Premier League. Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis, a wing of BCB, was formed to look after the Dhaka club-based domestic leagues and they took the decision to do away with the inclusion of foreign cricketers from the upcoming season.

Earlier, legends like Wasim Akram, Richard Illingworth, Arjuna Ranatunga and Sanath Jayasuriya were part of the league while former India cricketer and Ranji Trophy’s highest runs scorer ever Wasim Jaffer and India Under-19 world cup winning skipper Unmukt Chand were among those to play in the tournament last year. In the last edition, there were 15 Indian cricketers along with four Sri Lankans and five Pakistani players who participated in the DPL.

"We have decided that there will be no foreign cricketers in the upcoming edition of Dhaka Premier League. We are just trying to see what local players can do if there is no foreign player. Also we don't have foreign players in BCL (Bangladesh Cricket League) or NCL (National Cricket League),” said Kazi Inam Ahmed, the CCDM chairman, as quoted by Cricbuzz. 

The DPL is expected to take place from March 15 while the players' transfer will be held from March 3 to 5. With Bangladesh taking on Zimbabwe in an ODI series in Sylhet, the CCDM will open a desk so that the players can register for the league. During their strike, the Bangladesh cricketers placed a 13-point demand- one of which stated that there should be an open market for cricketers in the DPL instead of players by choice.

"For the last two years, we had player by choice signing policy which will definitely be on. But the players wanted the previous option of singing directly with the clubs. So the players can sign negotiating with the clubs directly," said Inam.