BPL T20
<i>No pay, no play</i>
* Rajshahi foreigners threatened boycott over non-payment
* BPL says Rajshahi made payment, but delays are from bank
* Kapugedera threatens similar action if payment is not made before next game
Trouble with payments reared its ugly head again yesterday as Duronto Rajshahi's foreign players threatened to boycott their Bangladesh Premier League match against the Khulna Royal Bengals over non-payment of the first 25 per cent of their salaries from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
The tensions were finally ceased just twenty minutes before the start of the game after the BPL governing council was bought into the fray.
“We provided them a guarantee with regard to their payments and only then did they agree to play the match," said IH Mallick, member-secretary of BPL's governing council. “Duronto Rajshahi had paid the BCB on the 5th of February. There are however, certain bank-related documentations that have delayed the transfer of payment. They will get their money within the next two working days,†he added.
The protest by the foreign players momentarily compelled Rajshahi to field a completely local playing eleven as Tamim Iqbal also went for the toss ahead of actual captain, Sri Lankan Chamara Kapugedera.
“We [the foreign players] were waiting for confirmation from the BCB that our first 25 per cent which is due to be paid will go to our accounts. We wanted to see a certificate or something and that's why Tamim went for the toss because we weren't sure if we were going to play or not,†said Kapugedera at the end of the match.
“We didn't get the money yet but got the confirmation that the transaction is in process. Hopefully by Monday we will get the money,†he added.
The Sri Lankan stated that he had never 'experienced such a situation before' and that the players would take a similar stance if they didn't receive their payment ahead of their next game. “I think the players will stand by the same position as today if we have not seen anything in the bank accounts,†said Kapugedera.
The Sri Lankan who joined the league midway stated that his team's owners, the BCB and his agents had all guaranteed the players their payments and that is why they had been encouraged to come to play. “Our agents guaranteed us and for me personally, our owners had spoken to me and they were very generous and they promised us that they were going to give us the money. We didn't have any doubt, coming here,†said the Sri Lankan.
“But we played nine games with due respect to the BCB and gave them a chance to pay. We didn't expect anything dramatic since everything was going through the BCB. But we needed to give them a point that we were not going to play anymore without getting anything,†he added.
Charles Coventry and Sean Ervine from Zimbabwe, Dilshan Munaweera and Chamara Kapugedera from Sri Lanka, and Ben Edmondson from Australia were the foreign players who played for Rajshahi in yesterday's game.
Comments