Kolkata : Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is set to take legal actions against Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) franchise Durbar Rajshahi for not paying dues to the Overseas players.
As per the foreigners, missed payment deadlines with overseas players and the team hotel. BCB media committee chairman Iftekhar Rahman said on January 26, 2025, that the BCB had given the franchise enough time and consideration and could no longer afford to keep doing so.
The situation came to limelight this weekend when the unpaid Rajshahi players made themselves unavailable for the match against Rangpur Riders in Mirpur, thereby boycotting the match.
It is said that overseas players of Rajshahi – Ryan Burl, Md Haris, Mark Deyal, Miguel Cummins, Aftab Alam, Lahiru Samarakoon were upset with non payment of the dues and therefore boycotted the match.
Durbar Rajshahi’s overseas players have been paid only one-fourth of their total payment. The rules clearly states that a franchise must play at least 75% of their total dues during the tournament. Before taking the crucial step of boycotting the match, the players skipping training in Chattogram a couple of weeks ago.
“The Durbar Rajshahi team… has applied to the BPL Technical Committee for special approval to field a team consisting solely of Bangladeshi players for today’s match against Rangpur Riders due to the non-availability of overseas players,” the BCB said.
As per BPL rules, a franchise should take to field a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 overseas players in a playing XI. When it became clear that the Rajshahi foreigners wouldn’t feature on Sunday evening match, the BPL governing council allowed the side to break the rule, in an exception case.
It is the first time in the BPL history that a franchise played without a single overseas player in the XI. It is being considered the BPL’s lowest point this season, which has triggered the BCB.
“We have to take legal action by any means now,” Iftekhar told The Daily Star. “The money has to be paid. Otherwise, BPL’s reputation will be ruined. The violation of contractual obligations like cheque dishonour and other issues will be addressed and we will file cases for all matters, as per the merit of the breaches. The board has given them enough chances. But they have crossed all limits. They were given a contract. There are breach of contract clauses. Until today, we didn’t take any action but now, we will take all the legal actions against them.”
Taskin Ahmed, Rajshahi’s skipper, after dramatic 2 runs win against table toppers Ranpur, even without overseas players, said in post match conference that, “It was certainly a new experience”.
“I heard that there was a problem with our hotel booking. There was probably a mix-up between the Sheraton and the Westin. We changed hotels [on Sunday morning] and then two hours before heading to the stadium, we heard that the foreign players won’t go [to the match]. We got a call from the board, telling us that at least you [local] guys play. They called the foreign players, telling them that the payment will be cleared. Still [they] didn’t come”.
“When I asked [the overseas players], they said they won’t play without money. I just said it’s their call. What can I say, I am also a player. We really felt bad playing without the foreign players. We requested the board to play with local players. They allowed it, and then winning the game gave us some respite.”
Taskin confirmed that Rajshahi paid the local players some money on Sunday. “We were given the cheque today. We will place it today. One can hope [it goes through]. If the cheque bounces like this wicket, we are in trouble”.
“Everyone expects to play the BPL in a peaceful environment, so when these things happen, we get disappointed. BPL is quite popular this season, but our team is having problems. I tried to boost up the team by telling them that this is our stage to perform, regardless of what’s happening elsewhere. The feeling is certainly not nice, but we are trying our best.”
Non payment of dues to players in BPL is also not a new thing, as these happened previously too. In 2012, 2013 seasons; the first 2 editions, were marked by controversies regarding such non payment to many players, as they complained of remaining unpaid. The BCB even stopped the tournament for a season after there were corruption scandals.
On Monday, Ryan Burl and Aftab Alam, two of Rajshahi’s overseas players, appeared for the team’s last league match against Sylhet Strikers. It is however not clear whether the franchise owner Shafique Rahman has paid them fully yet.
