Rain forces Bangladesh Premier League restart

The BPL has been forced to restart on November 8 with rain having played havoc with the tournament's opening fixtures - the first four games have been washed out in Mirpur without a ball bowled. The matches from the new start date will take place according to the existing schedule, while four of the first six matches, earlier scheduled from November 4 to 6, will be played later in the tournament.

But there is confusion over whether the opening day's games will be replayed or the teams will share points. Rangpur Riders and Khulna Titans have agreed to a rematch, according to BPL's member secretary Ismail Haider Mallick, but Comilla Victorians and Rajshahi Kings are still undecided. BCB vice-president Mahbubul Anam however said that the board cannot legally reassign the November 4 matches unless all the participating teams are unanimous on the decision whether to replay the two games or not.

Mallick made the announcement of starting the tournament on a later date on Saturday evening, adding that both matches on Saturday - Chittagong Kings v Barisal Bulls, and Dhaka Dynamites v Comilla - had been postponed earlier in the day. He said that the decision to restart the tournament from November 8 was decided in meeting on Saturday afternoon. The meeting involved the BPL governing council and representatives from the seven franchises, while broadcasters and ticketing partners were also taken into account.

"We have a weather report which has a forecast for more rain for another two days," Mallick said. "So far not a single ball has been bowled in the tournament due to the rain. We have decided to postpone the November 5 and 6 matches. We now want to hold our first match on November 8 as per the existing schedule. We will reschedule the November 5 and 6 matches in the rest days within our fixtures list."

On the issue of the opening day's matches, Mallick said: "According to the bylaws, we can make the November 4 matches into rematches only if the franchises agree to it. Rangpur and Khulna have agreed for the rematch but we don't have a decision from Comilla and Rajshahi, who were the teams in the tournament's first match.

"We will try to reassign the five or six matches on November 10 and 14 and, if need be, we will hold three matches in a day. November 20 is also an option for the rescheduled matches."

BCB vice-president Anam however said doing different things for the opening days' games was not permissible by the rules: "We have already postponed and rescheduled today's and tomorrow's [November 5 and 6] matches, but since yesterday's matches have gone into the record book, we cannot legally change those results unless all the franchises agree on it," Anam said. "We have left it to them to decide whether they want the one points each. We cannot do anything outside the law. The BCB cannot reverse the results of these two matches unless all the participating teams agree on the decision."