'Obviously it is the Board's responsibility' - BCB to step in to deal with BPL payment failure

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has officially intervened to resolve the ongoing payment crisis in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), accepting that the issue ultimately falls under its responsibility. After a series of financial disputes involving franchises, like Durbar Rajshahi, whose players have protested over unpaid salaries and bounced cheques, the board had to get involved in this matter.

The controversy broke out when Durbar Rajshahi's players boycotted a practice session due to non-payment, while their foreign players refused to travel for a scheduled match against Rangpur Riders on January 26. The situation worsened when it was revealed that multiple cheques issued to players had bounced.

This led to Rajshahi fielding an XI comprising entirely of local players, breaking the BPL's rule requiring at least two overseas players in a playing XI. Despite the breach, the BPL governing council allowed the match to proceed, making it a first in the tournament’s history. BCB secretary and BPL governing council member Najmul Hasan Papon admitted that the board must take responsibility. 

"At the end of the day, obviously it is the Board's responsibility. We can't say someone else is responsible for it but we could have seen everything differently. The things that happened were still very unexpected. Having said that, we have to take responsibility.

"Obviously, when we do something like this, we will take these things into consideration. We know that there was a special situation and we weren't sure whether we would be able to do BPL and with how many teams. Still there is no excuse regarding what happened. There are many incidents which should not have happened and no excuses from our side. But in future, this kind of incident will not take place, which we can ensure with certainty," Najmul said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

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Every cricketer is like our child whether he plays in the national team or not: Najmul Hasan Papon

Najmul further mentioned that while the BCB did not expect such financial mismanagement from a franchise, it would ensure that similar incidents do not occur in future editions. 

"We didn't expect that a franchise would be interested in taking a team and then creating a situation like this. None of us expected that. We observed some activities that don't align with the spirit of the BPL, and we reminded them of these issues. There are also payment concerns we talked about. Discussions were held regarding their plans, and we have reached some understanding. With seven days remaining," he added.

Additionally, the BCB is now exploring legal avenues against Durbar Rajshahi for failing to meet financial commitments, including unpaid player salaries and team hotel bills. 

"It is very unfortunate. The issue of cheque bouncing never even crossed my mind. One or two franchises have failed to fulfill their financial commitments, but most of them have lived up to their promises. Unfortunately, the good work of successful franchises has been overshadowed by the failures of a few," Najmul Hasan Papon further added.

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The crisis was not limited to Durbar Rajshahi alone. Chittagong Kings also came under question after national cricketer Parvez Hossain Emon reported that he had not received any payment from the franchise as of January 23. The situation escalated when team owner Sameer Quader Chowdhury made controversial statements, replying to Emon’s concerns by saying that money does not grow on trees and that the player needed to prove himself first. Najmul emphasized that every cricketer, whether a national player or not, deserves respect and timely payments.

"Every cricketer is like our child whether he plays in the national team or not. BPL is played with high profile cricketers, so if someone misbehaves with anyone it's a concern for us. We did not take it on a good note and we did not want to see a national team cricketer facing these kind of things. We did not expect that someone will make such a statemen," he concluded.