Bangladesh Premier Lgue to begin on February 9

The first edition of the Bangladesh Premier Lgue (BPL) will kick off on February 9, 2012 with the final to be played on February 29. The 20-day tournament will fture six tms that will play ch other twice ch in a round-robin format over 33 matches to be held in Chittagong and Dhaka.Tms will be allowed to field five foreign players in their XIs, as opposed to four in the IPL. Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Kamran Akmal and James Anderson are among at lst 25 foreign players who have made themselves available for the tournament.
"The main thing is the Bangladesh players have to be available," Arun Lal, a consultant to Game on , the tournament organisers, and also a former India opener, told ESPNcricinfo.
As in the first sson of the IPL, ch tm will have an icon player. The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced yesterday that Tamim Iqbal will be the icon player for Chittagong, Mohammad Ashraful for Dhaka, Alok Kapali for Sylhet, Shahriar Nafees for Barisal, Mushfiqur Rahim for Rajshahi and Shakib Al Hasan for Khulna. The players will be paid 5% more than the amount received by the highest paid player of ch franchise.
The franchise auction will take place on January 5, either in Dhaka or the s-side town of Cox's Bazar. Companies wishing to bid for a franchise will submit their offers on the same day, and bids will be opened in front of all those present, with the franchises going to the highest bidder. The player auction is scheduled to take place 10 days later. ch tm will have to spend a minimum of US $2 million and can spend up to a maximum of $5 million.
The BPL will be televised on a new channel in Bangladesh and the organisers are believed to be in discussions with Ten to broadcast the tournament in India. However, India's domestic 50-over tournament begins on February 20 and therefore could restrict Indian participation. "India is a problem," Lal said. "In the first six or eight games, they [India players] could play."
The organisers are also hoping that the winner of the BPL will be given a place in the Champions Lgue Twenty20 next yr.
Game on paid US$44.3 million for the rights to the BPL for six yrs.
Source: Cricinfo