Kolkata: The ongoing Bangladesh Premier League 2025 (BPL) season is sparked by yet another controversial act over the same non payment of dues issue.
As per reports, Durbar Rajshahi’s bus driver Mohammad Babul has not received his due payment just like the overseas players in the team.
Therefore, Babul decided to take matters in his own hands and pulled up a controversial act. He locked the franchise’s Cricket Kits Bags in the team bus, as a result of which they’re not getting any access to it.
According to the website, the announcement was made after reports emerged that overseas players of the team, including Mohammad Haris (Pakistan), Aftab Alam (Afghanistan), Mark Deyal (West Indies), Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe), and Miguel Cummins (West Indies), were left stranded in the hotel in Dhaka. The team management did not respond to any calls amid missed payment deadlines. While few of them received 25 per cent of their dues, rest had their entire payment waiting. In fact, some of the local players of the team left the team hotel without getting their entire salaries.
The matter had escalated to the level that the players had even refrained from practising, while the foreign players made themselves unavailable for the group-stage matches. They are set to leave Bangladesh without getting salary.
Rajshahi’s BPL 2025 campaign has ended, with the team failing to qualify for the playoffs. Babul, who drove the team around the country throughout the league stage, has made it clear that he won’t return the kit bags until he receives his remuneration.
Speaking to the reporters outside team hotel, he said, “It’s a matter of regret and shame. If they had paid us, we would have given back the kit bag to the players. Till now, I have not opened my mouth but now I am saying that we can leave if they clear our payment. The kit bags of local and foreign cricketers are there in the bus but I cannot give them as large portion of our remuneration is yet not paid.”
According to a Cricbuzz report, Rajshahi are yet to pay their foreign players and staff for BPL 2025. The likes of Mohammad Haris, Ryan Burl, Mark Deyal, Aftab Alam, and Miguel Cummins are awaiting their full payments for the season.
Rajshahi secured six wins and as many losses in BPL 2025, finishing fifth on the points table. The side have faced a lot of humiliation off the field, with the team’s owner Shafiq Rahman reportedly failing to pay hotel bills on time.
The team’s season is marked by issues regarding non payment, as the they were forced to field all local players on January 26, 2025 against Rangpur, as Overseas players boycotted the Match after not receiving payment.
A Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official disclosed that the BPL 2025 players were expected to receive 75 percent of their payments by February 7, while the remaining amount was to be cleared by March 8.
Calling the situation ‘hugely embarrassing,’ the official said, “I just spoke with Ryan Burl and others and they said that they are yet to receive their dues. I am in regular contact with Rajshahi’s owner and he is just saying that he is trying to get it done. Just yesterday, Bangladesh’s sports adviser (Asif Mahmud) had met him and asked to clear the dues as soon as possible and he had agreed.”
“By February 7, players should have received 75 percent of their payment while the rest should be cleared by March 8. Unfortunatel,y that is not the case with Rajshahi which is hugely embarrassing,” he added.
The issue, not for first time in BPL, has sparked debate over the league’s future on long term basis.
