IPL- Styled T20 Planned - Port City Cricket League (PCL)- News- 2009-12

IPL- Styled T20 Planned

The sports organisers of Chittagong are planning big with a Twenty20 cricket tournament styled as Port City Cricket League (PCL).

Taking inspiration from two Indian mega events IPL and ICL, the organisers of Chittagong Divisional Krira Sangstha (CDKS) had recently initiated to launch a lucrative Twenty20 league in the port city.

In this regard, the PCL officials met with two Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials yesterday in Dhaka and the BCB officials agreed in principle to lend their hands to hold such a tournament and gave a green signal to a five-member delegation of the CDKS to ‘go-ahead’ with their initiative.

“This is a very encouraging initiatives by the regional organisers. They informed us about their planning but we requested them to give us a concrete proposal in this regard before placing it to the board’s working committee as well as the board meeting,” said Gazi Ashraf Hossain, BCB’s tournament committee chairman.

“They have a plan to offer a lucrative prize money as well as there would be also an auction like in the IPL. They are planning to launch the tournament with eight teams where two national players are available for each team. They are not too much concerned about financial support from the board rather they sought assistance for coaches, umpires etc,” Ashraf added.

The PCL organisers gave a tentative date of April 29 to May 10 for the tournament and it will be held under floodlights at the MA Aziz Stadium.

“We have to talk with our national coach Jamie Siddons before confirming the date because our national interest always comes first. And we have to consider whether this tournament conflicts with any other BCB tournament. But again we want to see this kind of tournament take place in the country,” said Ashraf.

PCL organising committee chairman AZM Nasir, also president of Chittagong Brothers Union club, led the team and the other members of the delegation were CDKS vice president Ali Abbas, Secretary of Chittagong Jela Krira Sangstha (CJKS) Cricket Committee Abdul Hannan Akbar, and CJKS members Taherul Alam Swapan and SM Nasir Khan.

AZM Nasir placed the demand for PCL at yesterday’s meeting while Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir, general secretary of CDKS and a BCB member, gave an outline of the proposed tournament.

“The PCL will definitely usher in a new era and enthusiasm in the sports arena of Chittagong as well as Bangladesh , and we are extremely happy that the BCB gave us the much-needed permission,” Ali Abbas told this correspondent over phone after the meeting.

He said the BCB officials however asked the CDKS delegation to feed them back with some more information about the tournament immediately. These include a complete budget, format (knock out or league), complete project profile and plans to upgrade the flood light system of Chittagong MA Aziz Stadium where the PCL would be played under lights, he added.

“As per our initial plan, a total of eight teams will play in the nine-day tournament for which national ‘pool’ players will be drawn in discussion with concerned organisations,” CDKS General Secretary Alamgir said.

He said the budget is expected in-between Tk 60 lakh to Tk 70 lakh and players will get Tk 25,000 per match.

“An auction of around 60 cricketers may take place,” Alamgir informed.

“There also will be the option for the participating teams to choose sponsors,” he said.
Source – thedailystar.net