Bangladesh lifted the ban on telecast of IPL, Information and Broadcasting Minister Zaheer said – keep sports separate from politics.

Dhaka, March 28. The Bangladesh government has lifted the ban on broadcasting the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL-19) in the country starting today. Information and Broadcasting Minister Zaheer Uddin Swapan said in a private program on Saturday that sports should be kept separate from politics. There is no restriction on telecast of IPL in Bangladesh.

Zaheer Swapan said – No channel contacted us to broadcast IPL. We will look at IPL from a commercial perspective and if any channel applies to telecast IPL, we will consider it positively.

It is noteworthy that amidst the tension over the ongoing atrocities on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, earlier this year, on the instructions of BCCI, Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman was released from IPL by Kolkata franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

In protest, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had boycotted the ICC T20 World Cup jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka and its team did not participate in the T20 World Cup. Ultimately the ICC gave entry to Scotland in place of Bangladesh at the right time. During the same time, the then Yunus government had also banned the telecast of IPL.

Sports Minister had said – will discuss on lifting the ban

Well, before the latest decision of the Bangladesh government, Minister of State for Youth and Sports Aminul Haq had said in a conversation with Cricbuzz that the broadcast of IPL was banned by the previous interim government. Now there is a new government. They will talk to the concerned authorities in this regard.

IPL in today RCB vs SRH opening match

Meanwhile, the 19th season of IPL will start from today. The first match will be played between defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The match will start at 7.30 pm at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the home ground in Bengaluru. Bengaluru won its first title by defeating Punjab Kings last season. At the same time, the Hyderabadi team could not qualify for the playoffs and remained at sixth position.