Bangladesh Players Threaten BPL Boycott; Demand 'Public Apology' From Official, Who Called Tamim Iqbal 'Indian Agent'

Bangladesh cricket is on the boil. If the controversy surrounding the country's cricket board refusing to travel to India for the T20 World Cup was not enough, its now-sacked finance committee head M. Najmul Islam added fuel to the fire by calling former captain Tamim Iqbal an "Indian agent" for advocating dialogue between the BCCI, ICC, and the BCB. He did not stop there, stating that Bangladesh players would not be compensated if they missed the T20 World Cup, as they had "not justified the support so far," having failed to win a single ICC event.

Following outrage over the comments, the BCB removed Najmul as chairman of the board's finance committee, though he remains a board director-a position that can be taken away on disciplinary grounds.

Despite Najmul's removal from the key BCB post, two matches of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) scheduled for the day were postponed, and the tournament itself appeared in disarray due to the players' firm stance. In fact, the BPL may be indefinitely postponed if the official does not issue a public apology.

"We have informed the BCB that if he apologises publicly and the process regarding his directorship continues, we will be ready to return to cricket from Friday," a Cricketers' Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) press release said.

"We are continuing discussions among ourselves regarding the ongoing complications in Bangladesh cricket. Through our discussions, we, the cricketers, have realised that our women's national team are currently playing in the World Cup qualifiers in Nepal, the men's national team have the T20 World Cup ahead of them, and the men's Under-19 team are currently taking part in the World Cup. The impact of suspending all forms of cricket could affect all these teams.

"We also consider the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) to be extremely important. Therefore, in the greater interest of cricket, we have reconsidered our earlier decision," the press release added.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team T20 World Cup 2026 International Cricket Council BCCI Tamim Iqbal Mustafizur Rahman Cricket