The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is considering an extended postponement of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2025–2026 due to a concerted player boycott that stopped matches. A full-fledged confrontation has resulted from a demonstration against controversial remarks made by BCB director M Nazmul Islam.
M Nazmul Islam, the chairman of the finance committee and director of BCB, made public remarks that players deemed offensive and degrading, which sparked the discontent. In response, the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) threatened to boycott all cricket if their demands were not fulfilled and issued an ultimatum calling for his resignation. The league was postponed because players’ representatives and BCB authorities failed to reach a consensus despite several discussions.
The issue came to light during the BPL’s Dhaka phase when Chattogram Royals and Noakhali Express’s opening game was called off since neither team showed up at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
The game, which was supposed to start at 1:00 pm, was postponed by an hour, but the players remained absent, demonstrating their support for the boycott.
Questions were raised later in the day over the Rajshahi Warriors vs. Sylhet Titans second match. According to Amzad Hossain, the chairman of the media committee and director of the BCB, the tournament’s outcome was solely dependent on the teams’ attendance. He publicly stated that if players did not show up, the BPL might be cancelled or postponed indefinitely.
BCB certifies that official disciplinary actions have been started.
At a press conference in Dhaka earlier, about 70 to 80 cricket players, including members of the national team, declared that they would not play again unless Nazmul Islam quit. Despite this, the BCB made an effort to repair the damage by dismissing Nazmul Islam from his position as head of the finance committee and sending him a show-cause notice for his remarks.
Nazmul Islam was given 48 hours to reply, and the BCB confirmed that official disciplinary processes had been started. But Mohammad Mithun, the president of the CWAB, made it plain that insufficient steps were needed and that the boycott would go on until a resignation was obtained. Interestingly, the day’s first four-division Dhaka Cricket League games were also impacted.
India
