New Delhi: Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the T20 cricket league organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), has come under the scanner over non-payment of dues and match-fixing allegations in its 11th edition.
The crisis escalated Sunday as several foreign players from the Durbar Rajshahi franchise were left stranded in Dhaka without return tickets.
Things turned dramatic when the team’s bus driver locked away the players’ kit bags, demanding payment before returning their belongings.
“It’s a matter of regret and shame,” the bus driver, Mohammad Babul, told reporters outside the team hotel. “If they had paid us, we would have returned the kit bags to the players. But now, I am saying that we cannot leave unless they clear our payments.”
The foreign players—including Mohammad Haris (Pakistan), Aftab Alam (Afghanistan), Mark Deyal (West Indies), Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe), and Miguel Cummins (West Indies)—were left stranded at their hotel in Dhaka as the franchise continued to miss payment deadlines.
According to ESPN, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) then stepped in and arranged for their tickets. Ryan Burl was the first to receive his flight ticket and left early Monday.
According to the Rajshahi franchise, the remaining players are scheduled to fly out over the next two days. The franchise’s foreign cricketers were expected to leave Bangladesh without receiving their full dues, despite claims of progress.
The 2025 Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) started on 30 December 2024 and is scheduled to end on 7 February 2025.
Durbar Rajshahi owner Shafiqur Rahman had initially promised to clear player payments by 31 January and then by 2 February, but the deadline has been repeatedly postponed.
On 3 February, the Bangladesh Sports Ministry announced Rahman’s new payment plan, saying he would clear the dues in three instalments of 25 percent each on 3, 7 and 10 February. A few foreign players have received the remaining 25 percent as advance.
It is unprecedented for the ministry to issue a press statement regarding the BPL, a tournament organised by the BCB.
The statement said that “Rahman had admitted his mistake and committed to clearing the team’s dues in three instalments of 25 percent each, on February 3, 7 and 10. He also guaranteed that all individuals associated with the team would receive their payments in these instalments. If not, legal actions will be taken against him.”
Rahman was reportedly taken into police custody early Monday morning for questioning.
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Boycott over payment dues
The situation had been deteriorating over the past few weeks.
On 9 January, some local players’ cheques bounced, leading to threats of a boycott ahead of the 10 January match against Khulna Tigers. Rahman promised the players they would be paid by 14 January, but that payment wasn’t settled.
Several local players also joined the protest, with some checking out of the hotel after not receiving their full payments.
The matter further escalated when the overseas players boycotted practice sessions in January, and some made themselves unavailable for the group-stage matches.
Rajshahi has faced financial troubles since the beginning of this BPL season. Local cricketer Anamul Haque had initially said that local players hadn’t received their payments before the tournament, even though they usually get 25 percent in advance.
This led to a boycott of a training session in Chattogram by the local players, while the overseas players also refused to play in one match. Burl and Haris later agreed to play, helping the team stay in playoff contention.
Despite assurances from the management, the players did not receive their full salaries. While a few players received 25 percent of their dues as advance, the rest have not been paid at all.
Durbar Rajshahi were eliminated from the BPL Saturday following the Khulna Tigers’ victory over Dhaka Capitals on the final day of the league stage.
The dispute even led to a temporary breakdown in communication between the team management and players, with calls going unanswered.
In addition to salary issues, Rajshahi has also been inconsistent with daily allowance payments, forcing players to cover their own expenses from 5 to 11 January, Wisden reported. “We haven’t been paid our wages. None of us have,” local cricketer Anamul Haque stated after the team’s opening match against Barishal.
“The BPL has just started, and we don’t want to create a negative image for the tournament. Everyone is watching the BPL from around the world.”
BCB steps in
The crisis pushed the BCB to intervene to resolve the issue. On 30 January, the Bangladesh government formed a fact-finding committee led by the National Sports Council (NSC) to investigate the non-payment of players in the 2024-25 BPL season.
The protest over non-payment is being led by Durbar Rajshahi players. The BCB reportedly did not secure bank guarantees from all teams before the tournament. “I spoke with Ryan Burl and others, and they confirmed they are yet to receive their payments,” a BCB official told Cricbuzz.
Along with delayed payments, there have also been allegations of match-fixing in the BPL, with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) reportedly investigating eight matches.
The BCB is examining suspicious incidents in games involving Durbar Rajshahi, Sylhet Strikers, Dhaka Capitals and Chittagong Kings and matches under scrutiny include questionable bowling actions, no balls, odd team selections, and slow batting during run chases, local media reports stated.
This is not the first match-fixing issue in the BPL. Earlier, former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful was banned for eight years following a spot-fixing scandal in 2012.
Unpaid player dues too have been a recurring issue in the BPL, which has persisted since the league’s inception and has drawn criticism from the World Cricket Association (WCA), with CEO Tom Moffat expressing frustration over the BCB’s failure to resolve the issue.
“If the BCB doesn’t address the deep-rooted issues of financial mismanagement, player payments, corruption, and organisational inefficiency, BPL will never rise to the level of its international counterparts. The 2025 edition, with all its scandals and controversies, should be a wake-up call for the BCB,” sports journalist Hasan Jamilur Rahman Saikat wrote for The Business Standard.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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