Australia batsman Steve Smith’s maiden participation in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) now appears to be in doubt with his eligibility being questioned by the remaining franchises.
Currently serving his one-year ban from international and domestic cricket, Smith was picked up by the Comilla Victorians franchise as a replacement for Sri Lanka’s Asela Gunaratne last month.
However, objections have been raised over Smith’s signing by rest of the franchises due to the fact that the batsman was not nominated for the original player draft auction pool.
Under BPL rules, a franchise can sign replacement players only from the pool of players nominated in the original draft.
“We have referred the issue to the Bangladesh Cricket Board,” Jalal Yunus, the BPL technical committee chairman, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“At first Rangpur Riders raised the issue but later other franchises joined them and informed about their reservation. So it turned out difficult for us to solve so we referred the issue to the board to solve it. We will take the decision in the next board meeting.
Smith (r) continues to serve his one-year ban.
“To be honest they are not entitled to take any player outside the draft if they are replacing someone. They have to take it from the draft but we obliged to their request of recruiting Steven Smith taking larger picture into consideration. But now it seem that cannot be implemented after the objection of other franchises unless BCB comes up with any other solution,” Yunus continued.
Smith has been trying his hand at various T20 franchise leagues around the globe since he was slapped with his one-year ban by Cricket Australia following his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal.
The 29-year-old has undertaken stints in the inaugural Global T20 Canada and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) already this year and is set to take part in his maiden Pakistan Super League (PSL) stint from February next year.
The 2019 edition of the BPL is set to get underway on January 5 and Smith will now wait and see if he is eligible to turn out for the Comilla Victorians.