Franchise leagues are sprouting like umbrellas around the world. Starting with T20, now various types of tournaments including T-Ten, Hundred have been launched. These tournaments are held throughout the year with star players in different parts of the world. In the heyday of short-lived cricket, there are widespread allegations that these tournaments are becoming havens for financial crimes.
On October 30, the British media, the Telegraph, published a special report on cricket. The report, written by Tim Wigmore, is titled 'How Cricket Ate Itself'.
In one part of the report, the reporter presented his research on how 'corruption' is being encouraged in cricket. And that's where explosive information has come out about Bangladesh's franchise T20 tournament Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
According to the Telegraph report, there have been more than 30 allegations of corruption in the BPL in the last two years. However, despite so many complaints, no one concerned has been banned.
The report also said that the BPL authorities do not take the help of ICC, the governing body of world cricket, to prevent corruption. Rather, they conduct anti-corruption surveillance on their own 'cheaply'.
Several other franchises like BPL and League of Legends have been accused of corruption. ICC is not enlisted for anti-corruption activities in these leagues. They do the work at low cost. In that case, many problems remain, the Telegraph reports.
As of writing this report, the BPL authorities have not clarified their position on the allegations leveled in the Telegraph report.
Incidentally, the eleventh edition of BPL is going to start on December 27. Such information coming out before that will surely make the organizers uncomfortable.