Mahbub Anam replaces Faruque Ahmed as new BPL chairman

Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Thursday (June 19) that Mahbub Anam will replace Faruque Ahmed as the new chairman of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), country's lone franchise-based T20 cricket tournament. The decision was taken during a meeting that was held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.

Meanwhile, BCB's influential director Nazmul Abedin has retained his place as member secretary of the BPL governing council while Faim Sinha will be acting as a member of the governing council.

"Mahbub bhai was named as the new chairman of BPL governing council," a BCB official confirmed Cricbuzz following the meeting.

BPL governing council will start with the next edition of the tournament as the three-year cycle ended with the 2024-25 edition.

BPL was rocked by criticism last year due to non-payment issue while there were also allegations of fixing that forced the body to form an investigation committee though the report is yet to be made public.

BCB official also said while they will try to host the tournament in December but also admitted that it is easier said than done. "BPL's slot is always in December so we had a small meeting following the board meeting as everyone is busy with the carnival (to celebrate 25 years of Test cricket)," said the official.

"We had some preliminary discussions on which model we want to hold the BPL. We have to increase the brand value of BPL and that will the biggest challenge for us. We will be taking help from professional consultants and consultancy firm or agency will be considered in this regard. We are thinking four or five year's cycle. We started the discussion today and next week we will shape things up.

"Whether we can do BPL can only be said when we start our work. We have to come up with a new model and approach and if we face too many challenges, it could be that instead of seven teams, there will be five teams. Even if in a small scale, we want to hold a T20 event," he added.

The official said that though there is doubt regarding hosting the next BPL before the general elections but added that if they can project the model well like some other franchise tournaments do they can still get companies to buy franchises.

"Big challenge but international bidding and if we can enact a good business model like other franchise leagues, then good organizations would be interested to come," said the official. "We will pitch our ideas and our model to different companies and see whose approval we have got."

Apart from BPL, BCB directors also discussed about the media rights bidding process and also planned regarding the carnival to celebrate 25 years of Test cricket.