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Durbar Rajshahi’s overseas players refused to play against Rangpur Riders due to unpaid salaries. The BCB allowed an all-local team, which won by two runs.
Ryan Burl is one of Rajshahi’s leading BPL players. (PC: X)
Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) franchise Durbar Rajshahi’s overseas players refused to play their match against Rangpur Riders in Dhaka on Sunday over the franchise’s non-payment of their full salaries.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the overseas players have been paid only one-fourth of their due payment. The BCB’s rules mandate the franchises to pay at least 75% of the total dues during the tournament.
Ryan Burl, Mohammad Haris, Mark Deyal, Miguel Cummins, Aftab Alam and Lahiru Samarakoon are Rajshahi’s overseas players this season. The BCB’s rules say every team must play with at least two overseas players but Rajshahi went with an all-local 11 on Sunday, the first such case in the tournament’s history.
“We have a few changes. Four or five. Because no foreigners today. All the local players are playing today,” team skipper Taskin Ahmed said at the toss.
Soon after, the BCB released a statement saying the franchise took special permission before taking the step.
“The Durbar Rajshahi team… has applied to the BPL Technical Committee for special approval to field a team consisting solely of Bangladeshi players for today’s match against Rangpur Riders due to the non-availability of overseas players,” the BCB said.
“After a review of the request and in accordance with the provisions outlined in Clause 1.2.8 of the Match Playing Conditions of BPL 2024-25, the Technical Committee has granted approval for Durbar Rajshahi to field a team consisting of only Bangladeshi players for this match.”
The report said this is not the first such case of financial trouble for the franchise. The team’s local players had not been paid even 1/4th of their dues and they had to put up a protest by skipping training in Chattogram two weeks ago for that to change.
Owner Rahman is also said to have had his car seized after he couldn’t pay the bill for the team hotel in Chattogram. The team changed hotels ahead of the match and the overseas players stayed back as Sunday’s match went on.
Despite having no overseas players, Rajshahi went on to win the match by a narrow margin of two runs in a last-over thriller. It was their second consecutive win over the Riders in the competition.
