Thursday’s first BPL match hit by boycott

The first Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match on Thursday, between Chattogram Royals and Noakhali Express, was delayed as the teams did not turn up at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur for the game.

The first match of this edition’s Dhaka leg was scheduled for a 1:00pm start, with the toss scheduled for 12:30pm.

The cricketers threatened to boycott all forms of cricket unless Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director M Najmul Islam resigned from his post.

The Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) on Thursday night reiterated their hardline stance at a press conference, announcing that players would refrain from all forms of cricket if Najmul failed to resign before today’s scheduled BPL matches.

The controversy stems from comments made by Najmul on Wednesday evening in Mirpur, where he said that the board owes no compensation to players if Bangladesh miss the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, set to begin on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka, arguing that the BCB has never sought refunds from cricketers after poor performances at global events.

“The question [of compensation] does not even arise. We have invested so much on them, they haven’t been able to achieve anything, anywhere. Have we won a single global trophy till now? Then we could’ve said every time, you have failed to perform, whatever we have spent on you, now we will take it back. Return it to us,” Najmul said.

The Dhaka First Division Cricket League matches earlier in the day also did not take place.