Bangladesh Premier League 2016 to restart on November 8

Torrential downpour in Bangladesh has forced the administrators to reschedule the 2016 edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which will now start afresh from Tuesday (November 8).

Rain washed out the first four matches of the fourth edition of the domestic Twenty20 league, on Friday (November 4) and Saturday (November 5) respectively, while it also threatened to ruin Sunday’s double header. The non-seasonal showers, caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal, was forecast to last until Monday, forcing the BPL governing council to restart the tournament from Tuesday.

According to Ismail Haider Mallick, the secretary of BPL, the tournament will follow the earlier schedule for the matches starting from November 8. However, Comilla Victorians, the defending champions, are likely to play the first match on the rescheduled opening day instead of the second.

“We have a weather report which has a forecast for more rain for another two days. So far not a single ball has been bowled in the tournament due to the rain. We have decided to postpone the November 5 and 6 matches. We now want to hold our first match on November 8 as per the existing schedule. We will reschedule the November 5 and 6 matches in the rest days within our fixtures list,” Mallick said.

The four matches that were scheduled for November 5 and 6 are likely to be played on the off-days. The two matches that were abandoned on the opening day – Comilla Victorians versus Rajshahi Kings and Khulna Titans versus Rangpur Riders – may be replayed at a later date if the teams unanimously agree for such a move.

“According to the bylaws, we can make the November 4 matches into rematches only if the franchises agree to it. Rangpur and Khulna have agreed for the rematch but we don’t have a decision from Comilla and Rajshahi, who were the teams in the tournament’s first match,” Mallick said of the abandoned matches.

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

According to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) website, the revised schedule will be announced shortly.