Bangladesh Cricketers Announce Boycott BCB
Oct 21, 2019 at 7:04 PM
The upcoming Bangladesh tour of India has suddenly moved under the cloud as Bangladesh cricketers have decided to boycott Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) until their 11-point demand is met.
Bangladesh cricketers are very unhappy with some of BCB’s recent policies. The senior players are hugely disappointed after the recent changes in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) where the board has abandoned the franchise model.
On Monday (21st October), the senior Bangladesh cricketers called a press conference. During that press conference, they announced their boycott all the national and international cricket actions. Their boycott will continue until the BCB approves their 11-point demand.
Some of their demands are:
i) Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) should run in the franchise model. Earlier, it was the franchise-based tournament. However, recently, the BCB didn’t accept some demands of the franchises. So, they have finally decided to run BPL 2020 without any franchise. In addition to this demand, the local players should get the same salary as foreign players.
ii) Dhaka Premier League shouldn’t have any salary cap. Dhaka Premier League is the premier domestic tournament in Bangladesh.
iii) Adding more players in the central contract along with salary rise.
iv) They also mentioned arising the salary of the coaching staff, physios, trainers, groundsmen etc.
v) Similarly, the salary should be increased in first-class cricket along with the improved facilities of gyms, indoor nets, grounds, quality of balls, daily allowance, team hotels etc.
vi) After dismissing present Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB), it needs a fresh election to avoid the conflict of interest. Bangladesh players are demanding the power to select the head of the association.
vii) Unresolved payment should be cleared in proper time.
viii) Introducing a proper calendar for domestic cricket.
ix) Introducing one more List A and T20 domestic tournaments. At present Bangladesh has two first-class tournaments but one List A and T20 tournaments.
x) Top Bangladesh players should be allowed to play at least two foreign franchise leagues during the free period from national duties.
Shakib Al Hasan clarifies about the boycott
The senior Bangladesh cricketers like Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad have led the press conference. Later, Shakib clarified that entire Bangladesh cricketers are supporting this boycott. However, he further added that the junior cricketers, including the U19 side, are not in this boycott list.
Shakib also mentioned that the women cricketers are also not in the boycott list. However, they will welcome the women cricketers if they have any further demands.
On the other hand, BCB has just learnt about this boycott. They are trying to resolve this immediately.
BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury claimed, “We just came to know about it we will discuss it in the board and try to resolve it as soon as possible. I don’t think it is anything like revolt. They are yet to tell us anything formally, but we are looking into the matter.”
In November 2019, Bangladesh has the schedule to play T20I and Test series against the hosts India
According to the FTP schedule, Bangladesh will tour in India in the next month. In November, Bangladesh will play three-match T20I series and two-match Test series against the hosts India between 3rd November and 26th November 2019. The Test series against India is going to be the opening series for Bangladesh in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (2019-21).
However, the upcoming Bangladesh tour of India has suddenly moved under the cloud due to the latest boycott.