Bangladesh players call off boycott; BPL resumes
Bangladesh’s aggrieved cricketers called off their boycott “in the greater interest of the game” after the country’s Cricket Board (BCB) and the players’ welfare association arrived at a consensus, leading to the resumption of the scheduled BPL T20 matches on Friday.
The BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) on Thursday stared at the prospect of its flagship T20 league coming to a halt after senior national players revolted against director Najmul Islam for his disparaging comments against them.
The BCB went on damage control mode and removed Najmul as head of its finance committee, a move that may have helped bring the situation under control for the time being. Bangladesh’s Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) president Mohammad Mithun said they had to “compromise on some things” for the sake of the players.
Mithun, who was flanked by BCB director Iftekhar Rahman at a press conference at the board premises late Thursday night, said, “Keeping the greater interest of cricket in mind, we will resume playing tomorrow (on Friday).
“They (the BCB) have assured us that they will reach out to him (BCB director M Nazmul Islam) and fulfil our demands as early as possible.” The two BPL matches which were abandoned on Thursday — Chattogram Royals vs Noakhali Express and Rajshahi Warriors vs Sylhet Titans in Dhaka — are now being played on Friday.
The match between Chattogram Royals and Noakhali Express is in progress. Earlier on Thursday, despite the removal of Najmul from the key BCB post, two matches of the BPL scheduled on the day were postponed.
The furore started after Najmul, while reiterating Bangladesh’s refusal to travel to India for next month’s T20 World Cup on account of “security worries”, rejected concerns surrounding players’ remuneration should the country withdraw.
He stated that the players would not be compensated as they have not justified the support so far, having failed to win a single ICC event. The comments caused an outrage with CWAB calling for his immediate ouster from BCB.
Bangladesh are refusing to tour India, citing security concerns after pacer Mustafizur Rahman was dropped from the IPL on BCCI’s instructions for unspecified “developments all around”. The BCB is still in talks with the ICC to figure a way out after the world body showed reluctance to shift Bangladesh’s four games in India to Sri Lanka.
