BCB set to launch Women’s Bangladesh Premier League

In a major development for Bangladesh cricket, the BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) is all set to launch a maiden Women's Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL). The tournament is expected to be held after the ongoing men's competition ends on February 7.

According to Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the BCB director, the WBPL will be a three-team tournament, with each team playing the others twice for a total of six league games followed by the final.

"The board has been thinking about the various ways that we can take women's cricket forward. 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,” Fahim was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. 

Furthermore, he also revealed that the BCB is in talks with the BPL franchises regarding ownership of the women’s teams.

"We have already spoken to a few BPL franchises, who have shown interest [in owning women's teams], 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,” he added.

We won't take many overseas players: Fahim

Fahim revealed that the BCB is considering to allow only one overseas player in the playing XI ahead of the WBPL. He pointed out the financial constraints on the board as the reason for the same.

Meanwhile, the tournament will become the first women's T20 tournament to be held in Bangladesh, and the board will hope that the tournament goes on to bring more awareness and support towards women’s cricket in the country.

"We won't take many overseas players due to the financial constraints. Four overseas players puts 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,” Fahim said.