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What's the story?
Australian batsman Steven Smith's maiden stint in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has failed to materialise on technical grounds. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has barred the 29-year-old from participating in the upcoming tournament as his signing with Comilla Victorians was confirmed to have breached a by-law.
The BCB has effectively upheld the BPL Governing Council's decision to cancel Smith's deal with Comilla Victorians following protests from the other competing franchises.
The background
According to the BPL Players' Draft Rules, the franchises cannot replace an already signed player with one from outside the original draft list.
Smith was signed by Comilla Victorians as a replacement for Sri Lankan all-rounder Asela Gunaratne. Soon after the development, the deal was embroiled in controversy when the other franchises objected to signing a player outside the draft list.
The heart of the matter
During a meeting at BCB headquarters last week, the other franchises had expressed their ire at Comilla's signing to the BPL Governing Council. Although reiterating the breach of the tournament regulations, the latter referred the matter to the BCB itself.
The 2019 edition of the BPL is scheduled to start on 5th January. Smith was expected to begin his maiden stint with Comilla Victorians following Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik's departure to South Africa for the 5-match ODI series beginning on 19th January.
Initially, Comilla had been planning to sign Smith as replacement for Malik. However, when the other franchises objected to the move, they tried to rope in the former Australian skipper as the replacement for Asela Gunaratne.
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What's next?
With his BPL deal up in smoke due to technical reasons beyond his control, Smith will have to wait until February for top-notch cricket action. He will be part of the revamped sixth team competing in the 2019 edition of the Pakistan Super League.
In the fourth PSL season, which begins on February 14, Smith will play under the captaincy of Shoaib Malik. Meanwhile, the Australian batsman can return to state duties as well as international commitments from March 29 onwards.
