The Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Saturday (January 15) that fans will not be allowed in the upcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, due to an upsurge in the Omicron variant of Covid-19. According to a Cricbuzz report, 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.
"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. The 2022 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) is set to start on January 21 with the final to take place on February 18. The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram and Sylhet International Cricket Stadium are set to host the 40 matches in the upcoming tournament. 36 matches will take place in the championship in a round robin format followed by three playoff games and a final.
