BPL to follow Tokyo Olympics safety policy

The Tokyo Olympics was held amid the coronavirus outbreak last year where the Managed Event Environment (MEE) protocol was used. Since then, this MEE protocol has been used in a number of competitions. The same safety policy will also be used in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) this season.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief physician Debashish Chowdhury confirmed the matter on Wednesday.

He said that the cricketers are getting some mental discomfort while being in the continuous bio-safety zone for the past one year or so. The BCB has thought of ensuring health protection through MEE to give them some mental space

BCB followed the same safety protocol in the Pakistan series at home last month.

"The safety guideline that we are going to implement in this BPL has already been tried in the Tokyo Olympics. We are trying to apply it in relation to the existing reality here," Debashish Chowdhury said.

Debashish Chowdhury said about the Managed Event Environment (MEE) method. 

"This time it will not be that strict. The whole sport is moving away from the concept of bio-safety that we used to follow. Now the bio-bubble zone is not being mentioned. It is now called Managed Event Environment (MEE). This thing is being done to bring some relaxation in terms of reality," he added.

"The cricketers and staff will be able to roam free. The team will be able to move around the hotel, swimming pool, gymnasium, indoor, BCB academy and field as they please."

The BPL will start on 21 January. Just a few days before the start, the situation has become murky. But Debashish Chowdhury does not see any risks in organising BPL.

"There is another day's test left. If we can test today, we will know how many people have actually been infected. So far I don't see any risk of not having a tournament," he concluded.