By Alam Zeb Safi
LAHORE: The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will resume after a brief halt following successful talks between the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Thursday night, removing the stand-off which had been created by the Board’s Director’s Nazmul Islam’s disparaging remarks against the elite cricketers of the country.
Nazmul had latter been removed by the BCB as chairman of its finance wing on Thursday.
The CWAB president Mohammad Mithul said the players had decided to return to the field in the large interest of the game, adding the BCB have assured them that it would negotiate with Nazmul to address their demands on priority basis.
He was addressing a joint news conference with the BCB Director Iftekhar Rehman, media reported.
To accommodate the lost day on which two matches were missed the event’s schedule has been revised. Thursday’s abandoned matches of Noakhali Express and Chattogram Royals and Rajshahi Warriors against Sylhet Titans will now be played on Friday at 2PM and 7PM respectively. Consequently, Friday’s originally scheduled games have been shifted to Saturday while Saturday’s fixtures have been moved to January 18.
The Eliminator and Qualifier-1 have also been pushed back to January 20, though the date for the final remains unchanged.
Earlier on Thursday Bangladesh’s cricket administration plunged deeper into turmoil after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) removed Nazmul Islam, a senior director and chairman of its finance committee, following an unprecedented player boycott that disrupted the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and exposed deep fractures between the board and the country’s top cricketers.
The standoff began after Nazmul Islam made remarks this week that were widely seen as disparaging to national team players, particularly over financial liabilities linked to tournament commitments and compensation issues. The comments triggered fierce pushback from players and the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB), who demanded his resignation and threatened to refuse to take the field if their demands were not met.
On Thursday, two BPL matches, including Chattogram Royals vs Noakhali Express and Rajshahi Warriors vs Sylhet Titans, were postponed as players and teams refused to turn up for the toss in protest. The boycott marked one of the most serious ruptures in the relationship between Bangladesh’s players and cricket administrators in years.
In response, the BCB issued a terse statement late on Thursday announcing that Nazmul Islam had been relieved of his responsibilities as chairman of the finance committee “with immediate effect” in what it described as a move taken “in the best interest of the organisation.” The BCB President and former Test cricketer Mohammed Aminul Islam has assumed the role of acting head of the finance committee until further notice.
“The interests of the cricketers remain our highest priority,” the board’s statement said, urging players to maintain professionalism and continue to support the BPL. “The Board remains fully committed to upholding the honour and dignity of all players under its jurisdiction.”
Players, however, have signalled that they want more than the removal of the official from his finance role, insisting on a public apology and steps toward further accountability for his remarks.
The CWAB said in a separate release that players are prepared to end their boycott and resume matches if Nazmul Islam issues a public apology and the board follows due process regarding his directorship, even as proceedings against him continue.
The remarks that sparked the crisis included comments suggesting that players would bear financial fallout if Bangladesh were to withdraw from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, and that compensation “does not even arise,” angering many national team players who viewed the statements as disrespectful and dismissive of their contributions.
Veteran players and CWAB officials, speaking at a press conference in Dhaka, laid out their grievances, describing the comments as an affront to the dignity of current and former national cricketers. They emphasised that the dispute was not just about individual remarks, but about mutual respect and the rights of players within Bangladesh’s cricketing framework.
The crisis unfolds against a backdrop of ongoing questions about governance and communication within the BCB, with analysts saying it could have implications not just for domestic competitions, but for Bangladesh’s preparations for major international tournaments.
As of Friday morning, the future schedule of the BPL remained uncertain, with both players and the board indicating that negotiations would continue in an effort to find a pathway back to normal competition.
