Solve the Dhaka Premier League issue as early as possible

These days you won't find a dull moment in Bangladesh cricket. Even without any matches available in international fixtures, our cricket is making news every now and then. We have had the fair amount of hullabaloo with the spot-fixing saga and now we are making the weather heavy with the Dhaka Premier League which is a very popular league in our country.

The top cricketers of Bangladesh have threatened to pull out from this year's Dhaka Premier League as the BCB has proposed a change in the player's transfer system. According to the new system the players are divided into seven categories - A+, A, B+, B, C, D and E according to a pay structure which starts from $28,300 approximately for the A+ category.

A total of 184 players are included in these categories. A lottery would decide which club gets to pick first from the top category and after all the 12 clubs have picked players from that particular category, the next pick would go to the club who selected last in the first category. From there it would proceed sequentially in the next categories. (Source: Dhaka daily Prothom Alo and ESPNcricinfo).

In the past, the players used to decide the clubs according to their own wish but after the initiation of this new rule the players' freedom of choosing their favourite clubs have been dented. The Cricketer's Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) complained of the BCB's lack of communication regarding this issue. Keeping this issue in mind, the BCB chief Nazmul Hasan said in a press conference on June 19, 2013 that it will take time to start the Dhaka Premier League in due time because of the ICC's ACSU report on the BPL spot-fixing. Hasan admitted that there is an underlying anxiety regarding ACSU's report and there is a risk of more names getting involved.

The Dhaka Premier League was supposed to start earlier this year but it has been re-scheduled to start in July 3 while its players' transfers have been scheduled for June 23. But this schedule seems to get re-scheduled again as Hasan expects to receive the ACSU report during the ICC annual conference which is to be held in London from June 25 to 29.

What sort of a shock wave this ACSU report going to produce remains a big worry. If few more big names get trapped then Bangladesh cricket will be jolted terribly. And with this the Dhaka Premier League's future seems bleak. Even if it starts lately, it will be severely hampered by the upcoming monsoon season. So it is very important for the league to proceed during the dry season.

The commencement of the Dhaka Premier League is very important for our cricket. As a matter of fact, since the Zimbabwe tour, our cricketers are hardly playing any cricket or going to play any competitive cricket since the October series against New Zealand. If our players don't engage themselves in any sort of active cricket then this long gap might take its toll on them. And for which the Dhaka Premier League would have been very critical in keeping our cricketers busy in playing active cricket.

In Bangladesh, traditionally, nothing is solved out without creating any useless drama. Even a simple matter is made to look like a difficult mathematic problem. I am not sure how the ACSU report will hamper the start of the Dhaka Premier League. I am not sure about this complex triangular love story between the cricketers, cricketer's welfare association and the BCB; but as a Bangladeshi cricket fan I can only feel that the complex case of the Dhaka Premier League must be solved as soon as possible as our cricketers must keep themselves focused in cricket.

If our boys don't play any sort of active cricket in this long gap then the engine will cool down and it will be hard to start this engine during the series against New Zealand.

Note: This article has been published on 21/06/2013 in Cricketnext.com Solve the Dhaka Premier League issue as early as possible 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar