We will play only if our demands are met, said Shanto-Mithun

Sports Desk

Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) President Mohammad Mithun told the media today that cricketers will stay away from cricket until their demands are met by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

“We have been discussing many issues with the BCB, but we have not found any solution. We are now disappointed. Cricketers play for respect,” Mithun said at a press conference in the afternoon.

The press conference was called by the players after BCB director M Nazmul Islam made derogatory comments about the cricketers last night, prompting them to boycott all forms of cricket until he resigns.

The cricketers did not take to the field in the first match of the BPL between Chittagong Royals and Noakhali Express at 1 pm today. Mithun told reporters that they will remain adamant in their decision to boycott the game until their demands are met.

Mithun further added, “We will only play after the demands are met. We wanted to hold a closed-door meeting to resolve the issue, but they did not take any initiative.”

In the press conference attended by around 70-80 cricketers from the national team and first division, apart from the Nazmul issue, the cricketers raised some other recent unresolved issues. These include the exclusion of 9 players from the BPL on suspicion of misconduct, the Dhaka First Division Cricket League, women’s team all-rounder Jahanara Alam and the lack of facilities for the women’s cricket team.

The controversy began with some comments made by Nazmul in Mirpur on Wednesday evening. He said that the board is not obliged to pay any compensation to the players if Bangladesh cannot participate in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, which starts in India and Sri Lanka on February 7. He argued that the BCB has never asked for money back from cricketers after poor performances in global tournaments.

Nazmul said, “There is no question of [compensation]. We have invested a lot in them; they have not achieved anything. Have we won a single global trophy so far? Then we could have said every time that you have failed to perform, return what we have spent on you.”

Following the board director’s comments, COAB President Mithun said yesterday that such statements “have caused a great deal of hurt in the cricket community and are unacceptable.”

Before today’s first BPL match, the cricketers demanded his resignation, but with no progress on the issue, they are sticking to their decision to boycott cricket.

Mithun further said at today’s press conference, “We are still in the same position. Everything has a limit. He has crossed all limits. I did not find any respect for cricket in his words.”

Mithun also said that they were unable to contact BCB President Aminul Islam Bulbul. “The most unfortunate thing is that we were unable to contact Bulbul Bhai,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nazmul recently sparked controversy by calling former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal an ‘Indian agent’ in a social media post. Nazmul made the comment after Tamim asked the board to consider the interests and future of Bangladesh cricket during discussions with the ICC about moving the World Cup matches from India.

Koab then asked Tamim to apologize to Nazmul. According to Mithun, the incident made the BCB director even more ‘reckless’.

Mithun added, “We asked him to express regret, but he has become more reckless. He cannot make such comments. We do not think he should be in this position. We have already held press conferences for his comments. We are confused; what does he actually want to do as a board director?”

However, Mithun believes that if the board takes quick action, everything can get back on track.

“They wanted to make him OSD. Then he was given 48 hours to explain his position. The first match was cancelled. If the BCB confirms that he will be removed from the post, we want to play from the second match,” the wicketkeeper-batsman said.