The Bangladesh Cricket Board is going to launch a maiden Women’s Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL). It will be the first ever Women’s T20 tournament that will be played in Bangladesh. It will start after the ending of on-going men’s tournament BPL, which is going to end on February 7.
According to Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the BCB director, In WBPL three teams will participate, where each team will play against the other one, which will be a total of six league games, while ending the tournament with the final match. Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka is set to host all the matches of this tournament, with the final match to be played on February 15.
“The board has been thinking about the various ways that we can take women’s cricket forward,” Fahim said. “Whether we can do a T20 competition for women was in our thoughts. We have decided today that we will do the Women’s BPL.”
While communicating to the media in Sylhet, BCB women’s wing chairman Nazmul Abedin, expressed the broader vision of BCB behind the tournament. He explained that the main reason for WBPL is to make the women’s team more confident in Bangladesh rather than only relying on financial profits.
“The plan is to conduct it (WBPL) with three teams. To organize a quality tournament, you need a sufficient pool of talented players. Expanding beyond three teams would dilute the quality. Although we considered four teams, we decided this format was more feasible,” The director said.
Fahim further explained that BCB was in contact with some of franchises who own men’s BPL, that if they want to own women’s teams also, and some franchises responded positively.
“We have already spoken to a few BPL franchises, who have shown interest (in owning women’s teams),” he further said. “We want to see how a women’s tournament has an effect on our T20 cricket. We are hopeful that it will help our women’s game progress.”
Fahim further expressed that only one overseas player will be allowed in each team and every team should have a squad of only 15 players. As it will be a local tournament rather than any global franchises competition. This policy will allow local players to equally participate in the tournament and enhance their cricketing talent by having more opportunities.
“We won’t take many overseas players due to the financial constraints,” he added. “Four overseas players put financial pressure on the teams; perhaps they don’t want to take that pressure. We want to give more opportunities to our domestic cricketers. We want to add competitiveness.”
For the very first time, any Women’s T20 tournament will happen in Bangladesh, as it will provide an opportunity to grow women’s cricket in the country, in a better and more positive way by providing a platform for local female players to come forward and polish their skills and talent, becoming more confident . Women’s cricket team play the one-day league in Dhaka, and also the BCB recently launched a three-day competition for women cricketers.
