DPL’s no foreigner policy a cloudy scenario

The Dhaka Premier League (DPL), the country's premier one-day competition, would be played without any foreign stars as the majority of the 12 clubs had asked for it, Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) had announced in a press conference on Tuesday.

While the decision was somewhat communicated "internally" at least a year back, the reasons cited were still a bit unconvincing. Dollar crisis and exposure for local players were held up as reasons but, talking to club officials, it appears there could be other reasons behind such a decision.

Some club officials claim their opinions were not asked for as the decision has come from higher-ups in the board's power hierarchy.

"We haven't asked for anything like that [regarding not having foreign players]," a Mohammedan official said on conditions of anonymity.

"Not sure about its benefit. We needed a leftie in the middle-order after Shakib [Al Hasan] left and wanted to bring a left-hander from outside, and even then, we were not sure if foreigners would be allowed but in the last four months we have been hearing 'no foreigners, no foreigners'."

However, an Abahani official claimed that they did not need foreigners. "We agreed [with decision] because do we need foreign players? We have 16 players from the national team," Abahani manager Abdullah Al Mamun told The Daily Star.

There used to be minutes of meetings that were communicated in written form after the CCDM meeting but no such processes are followed now, according to sources, which brings confusion regarding last year's meeting when the directive of not including foreigners first came to fore.

Chirag Jani and Parvez Rasool have been absolute performers in the last two seasons for Legends of Rupganj and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, respectively, turning in highest run-getters and wicket-takers' list even last season.

A Legend of Rupganj official said that when the bigger clubs could not sign these kind of players, the decision to not include foreigners was finalised.

"We have this player who was confirmed to play in our team and an agreement, too, was signed and even during the morning of the meeting he had messaged me. The thing is when we asked which clubs approached him after last season to play this season, he named a few clubs. If the clubs were aware since last season that foreigners were not allowed, why did they approach him since the decision had been given last year?

"I know of two players, Chirag Jani and Parvez Rasool, who two big teams had offered, I won't say their names. When these teams did not get the two players, they took initiative that foreign players won't be there," a Legends of Rupganj official said on conditions of anonymity.

Teams also had to face the difficulty of making plans since they had already signed some foreign stars. Many of the club sources believe that CCDM chairman Mohammed Salahuddin is not to blame as some decisions are taken from high up in BCB's power hierarchy.

Dollar crisis, if it affected everyone, should also be a reason to not have so many foreigners in the ongoing BPL. But not having representatives in the BCB hierarchy and influencing decisions could also be a big reason why some clubs would now be feeling the consequences of this decision.