Where irregularities rule the roost in BPL 2017

The fifth edition of Bangladesh Premier League concluded by crowning their new champion- Rangpur Riders as they defeated star studded Dhaka Dynamites in the final, who failed to retain their title on at Mirpur on Tuesday.

The just concluded edition of BPL is by far the most attractive one considering the brand of cricket played by some of the top international stars with universe boss Chris Gayle dictated terms when it mattered to guide Riders to their maiden triumph.

However, BPL did not end free of controversy and it was diminished quite a bit of its reputation and made it mandatory for the governing council to be stricter when applying rules and regulations, as a result, Comilla Victorians looked to suffer the most as newly inducted rule snatched away their right to play the final.

BPL governing council seems to have had trouble applying rules since the start of the franchise based Twenty20 cricket tournament as in the past it was observed last-minute meeting ended up into a chaos. This year, they did not impose a pre-tournament regulation that a match would be decided by Super Over during the playoffs in case the allotted overs were not played due to rain.

Ultimately, they added a reserve day to the playing conditions towards the end of the tournament, when they could have done so before it started. Victorians were unlucky had it not been introduced at the near end of the tournament Victorians would be in the final at the expense of Riders, being winner in the group stage.

Stricter application of the over-rate fines may have made the league a smoother event during the beginning when captains took their time while umpires had to change balls plenty of times in the night games. It was reduced substantially once few captains were fined by strict match referees, the pace picked up.

Lack of quality pitches seemed to tarnish the spirit of the game as it offered low scoring at the agony of the crowd present in and around the venue along with the ones sitting in front of their TV set or devices offering live streaming.

Some of the best T20 cricketers in the world performed exceedingly well in this season of the BPL but they did so on unfriendly pitches, and it took very little time for players, coaches and team owners to show their disappointment and it only increased drastically during the business-end of the tournament in Mirpur.

Even in Sylhet and Chittagong, however, the pitches were not always conducive to big-hitting. In the latter stages, Brendon McCullum, Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza publicly criticised the pitches, with Tamim drawing the wrath of the Bangladesh Cricket Board for his comments.