Bangladesh Premier League marred again by impasse, irregularity on second day

Organisers of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) have broken the rules they made on the second day of the tournament.

The match between Sylhet Superstars and Chittagong Vikings saw an impasse over playing foreign players on Monday.

The BPL Governing Council later violated the rule to play four foreign players in a team, letting the Sylhet franchise play with two foreigners.

The match started over an hour behind schedule when two Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials intervened.

Sylhet did not have No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for Ravi Bopara and Josh Cobb of England.

BPL Technical Committee chief Jalal Yunus said the Governing Council had been asking for the NOCs of Bopara and Cobb for a week.

Sylhet decided to include them in the original eleven following the rule to play four foreigners when the NOCs came from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after a delayed toss.

Chittagong refused to play since Bopara and Cobb were not included in Sylhet's original eleven provided during the toss.

Then Yunus and Nizam Uddin Chowdhury discussed with the two franchises and Sylhet started to play without Bopara and Cobb.

They had only Sri Lankans Ajantha Mendis and Dilshan Munaweera as foreign players, which was a clear violation of the BPL rule to play four foreigners.

The rule raised eyebrows when it was made.

BPL Governing Council Member Secretary Ismail Haider Mollick had said the decision aimed at improving standards of the game.