BCB to not allow fans for BPL 2022 .com

The Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Saturday (January 15) that fans will not be allowed in the upcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, slated to begin from January 21, due to an upsurge in the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The Bangladesh government on January 10 imposed restrictions in order to control the spread of the virus. BCB decided to allow fans in the just concluded home series against Pakistan after barring them when they resumed cricket, both international and domestic, at home. But the BPL governing council secretary Ismail Haider Mallick told Cricbuzz on Saturday that they will not allow fans in the upcoming BPL as per the government directives.

"There will be no fans allowed inside the stadium during the upcoming BPL. This is the directives given by the government and we are following it," said Mallick. He added that they cannot have DRS in the tournament since they cannot bring technicians from abroad due to corona.

"We cannot use the DRS in BPL due to Covid situation. Now they (technicians) can't fly. Their two teams are now in two countries, they will not be able to come to Bangladesh in this situation from there,'' said Mallick. ''Hawk-Eye Company is the sole provider of DRS in the world. No one wants to come because of Omicron.

"There is nothing to discuss with the franchises about DRS. We did not get DRS and we will let them know. It's true that the tournament might lose some of its appeal without DRS but there is nothing to do. We wanted full capacity of crowds in BPL. We also got permission from the government but everything changed because of Omicron."

A local umpire and a foreign umpire will officiate the games in the tournament.