‘Their demands are logical, but…’

While saying that the national cricketers' 11-point demands were logical, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) were worried about whether a vested quarter was trying to destabilise the country's cricket.   

After the cricketers announced that they were going on strike on Monday afternoon, all eyes were on the BCB to see what action the sport's governing body would take to resolve the crisis?

"We want cricket to go on. Without holding a meeting with everyone [board members], we cannot say anything or take any step in such a short period. But cricket should go on," said BCB's media committee chairman Jalal Yunus later Monday evening. He however said that they did not communicate with the players after the incident.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan, who generally loves to share his thoughts with the media, did not speak about the issue and The Daily Star could not reach him over phone.

"He will definitely talk with the media. If not today, then tomorrow [Tuesday] or when every member [BCB directors] is available," said Yunus.

"Most of their demands are logical -- with none being such that cannot be met. And most of their demands have or are already being implemented. For instance, their demand for BPL [Bangladesh Premier League] to go back to being a franchisee-based league, is already being implemented as we already mentioned that this edition of BPL is a special edition [with the tournament is solely being arranged by the BCB without any franchises]. And all their other demands are also negotiable," he added.

"However, this whole 11-point demand came as a surprise and a shock because they never came to us [the BCB] with the demands before; instead they went straight to the media with an ultimatum which is quite alarming for Bangladesh cricket. Because had they come to us first, we could have negotiated and discussed those with them. We could have discussed it with them and both parties [players and the board] could have been in a win-win situation. But without discussing with us, they directly gave an ultimatum that they would put a stop to all cricketing activities if their demands are not met. They could have taken this action if their discussions with us had failed," he continued.

"Is this a step to destabilise our cricket? This is also a question now. The whole scenario is a surprise to us. We want cricket to be played. A lot of people since 1972 has contributed to cricket and no one would want this to be halted.

"The president has his door open for all players for any sort of issues and even for personal matters. Many have come before and discussed matters with him. It is Shakib who always talks, meets and discusses with the BCB president. Didn't you ask if they had any discussion with the BCB president or whether they wanted any appointment or make these demands officially? They have free access. But today [Monday] they gave an ultimatum without even discussing or negotiating with us. Our National [Cricket] League is going on, an India tour is coming up and the camp will start after two days on October 23. So, this decision is really surprising," Yunus said.