Rajshahi’s crisis continues with overseas players sitting out as they have been paid one-fourth of their total payment.
Rajshahi’s crisis has plunged from bad to worse as overseas players refused to play their BPL game against Rangpur Riders in Dhaka on Sunday.
Taskin Ahmed, the captain, acknowledged their absence when TV analyst Danny Morrison questioned him about the alterations in the playing XI during the toss.
“We have few changes. Four or five. Because no foreigners today. All the local players are playing today,” Taskin said.
According to the BPL’s regulations, a team’s starting lineup this season must have at least two foreign players. Shortly after the toss, the BCB released a statement stating that an all-local XI in this case had been approved by the tournament’s technical committee.
“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.” This was the first instance of a team playing a BPL game without overseas players in its XI.
Despite the BCB’s franchise rules requiring them to pay at least 75% of their entire dues during the competition, Rajshahi’s international players have only received one-fourth of their total payout. Before the players protested and skipped training in Chattogram a few weeks ago, the franchise did not pay its local players anything.
When Rahman, the owner of the Rajshahi squad, was unable to pay the fee on time, he also had issues with their Chattogram hotel. According to TV reports, a security guard was stationed outside his hotel room, and the vehicle he was driving was confiscated.
As an aside, Rajshahi won the game. Rangpur needed an unlikely 25 runs going into the final over, but No. 8 Mohammad Saifuddin nearly pulled off a robbery with three sixes and a four, letting his team miss the mark by only three runs. This meant that Rajshahi had defeated league leaders Rangpur twice in as many days; Rangpur had won eight straight games before losing to Rajshahi in back-to-back games.
This season, Ryan Burl, Mohammad Haris, Mark Deyal, Miguel Cummins, Aftab Alam, and Lahiru Samarakoon are Rajshahi’s foreign players.