Smith’s BPL participation on hold

Steve Smith, who was all set to play his first ever season in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is now uncertain as the player’s eligibility to take part in the tournament is now in question.

In a meeting on Tuesday, BPL’s technical committee chairman Jalal Younus said that he asked the BCB to take a final decision on whether Smith will be eligible for the T20 tournament that begins on January 5.

As a replacement of Sri Lanka’s Asela Gunaratne, BPL franchise Comilla Victorians signed Smith and there’s where the problems begin. According to the rules of the tournament, replacement players are supposed to be chosen from among the players who were in the draft in the first place, and Smith was not part of the draft.

“We had allowed Comilla to sign Steven Smith for the greater interest of the BPL. The bylaws said that a replacement player has to come from the [players who were in the] draft and, after we allowed Comilla, the other franchises objected. Which is why we held the meeting today but, since we couldn’t come to a conclusion, I have now referred it to the BCB.”


Now it all depends on BCB and the fans all over Bangladesh will be holding their nerves to see if the former Australian captain can participate in the tournament or not.