No DRS in BPL

The Decision Review System (DRS) will be unavailable for the upcoming eighth edition of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), scheduled to begin on January 21.

Due to the current Covid-19 situation around the world, the technical team from South Africa that oversees the DRS were unwilling to travel to Bangladesh, informed the BPL governing council member secretary Ismail Haider Mollick.

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"We cannot keep the DRS in the Covid situation and with the travel restrictions, the technicians were also unable to fly. The technicians, divided into two teams, are now working in two different countries and they won't be able to come to Bangladesh in this situation. 

"Hawk-Eye Company is the sole provider of the DRS in the world. No one wants to come because of Omicron. We will host Afghanistan after BPL. We have to talk about whether we can include DRS in the series or not," said Mallick.

However, Mallick is optimistic about the broadcasting quality for the upcoming edition of the BPL despite the absence of the DRS.

"We will try to improve the production. We have used over 26-27 cameras for the international series and I think there will be a few more cameras in the BPL. There have been issues with the graphics in the past and we will be more careful this time around. I hope the overall production level will be good. Yes, without DRS, there will be shortcomings but all other technologies will be there," he said.

Previously, the BCB had allowed spectators in the ground for the home series against Pakistan last year for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak and there were also plans to allow fans for the upcoming edition of the BPL.

However, due to the surge of the Omicron variant, the BCB is considering arranging the tournament behind closed doors.