Boycott called off as the BPL set to resume after assurances were given to players that demands will be met.
Following an agreement struck at a late-night meeting on Thursday between the BCB and the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB), Bangladeshi cricket players have dropped their boycott. According to the update, the planned BPL matches will now happen on Friday.
CWAB president Mohammad Mithun, who sat alongside BCB director Iftekhar Rahman at a press conference that began at the board premises at 11.45pm, said, “Keeping the greater interest of cricket in mind, we will resume playing tomorrow [on Friday]. They [the BCB] have assured us that they will reach out to him [BCB director M Nazmul Islam] and fulfil our demands as early as possible.”
The CWAB had requested Nazmul’s suspension as a prerequisite for negotiations in a news release earlier in the evening. Nazmul was dismissed from his position as chairman of the finance committee by the BCB, but he is still a director of the organisation while the board initiates a review.
Although they applauded the action, the protesting players have continued to demand an apology in public. It is acknowledged that the BCB president Aminul Islam and the CWAB are still at odds over the demand for an apology.
At around 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, the board met with representatives of the players after meeting with BPL franchise officials.