Controversial Bangladesh Official Ready To Apologise But Players Still Unhappy. Here's Why

Bangladesh players are ready to end their boycott of cricket in the country if Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Najmul Islam publicly apologises for his "disparaging remarks" about players recently, ESPNCricinfo reported on Thursday. On Wednesday, days after calling former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal an "Indian agent" for suggesting dialogue between the two cricketing nations to resolve the T20 World Cup deadlock following the release of pacer Mustafizur Rahman by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from IPL 2026 on instructions of the BCCI in light of alleged atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh, Najmul added to his controversial comments by suggesting that the BCB does not owe the team any compensation if players miss the T20 World Cup. He also pointed to their failure to win major trophies.

This caused a huge uproar within the Bangladesh cricket community, as the matches of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Dhaka Premier League (DPL) scheduled for Thursday did not take place because of the boycott.

"The question [of compensation] does not even arise. We have invested so much in them, yet they haven't been able to achieve anything, anywhere. Have we won a single global trophy till now? Then we could've said every time, 'You have failed to perform; whatever we have spent on you, now we will take it back. Return it to us,'" Najmul had said, as quoted by The Daily Star on Wednesday.

Cricketers' Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) president Mohammed Mithun and star all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz held press conferences addressing Najmul's statements, with the former demanding Najmul's resignation from the post of director and the latter condemning and rebutting the "shameful and inappropriate" remarks. Miraz also pointed out how the International Cricket Council (ICC) and sponsors contribute significantly to players' income.

While the BCB issued a statement announcing the removal of Najmul from the chairmanship of the board's Finance Committee, players want him to be ousted as a director, and CWAB wants a public apology from him.

Najmul Ready To Aplogise But Players Unhappy

According to ESPNcricinfo, on Thursday evening during a phone call, BCB president Aminul Islam, a former captain, reportedly said that the only way Najmul could apologise was through a "closed-door meeting." The players he spoke to, including some senior ones, did not appreciate this stance.

After the call, CWAB issued a statement saying that after communication with the BCB and cricketers, it had been decided that players would feature in the BPL on Friday and withdraw their boycott if Najmul makes a public apology. The statement added that CWAB was fine with the BCB taking time to follow due process to remove Najmul from the board of directors.

"We welcome the decision to remove BCB director M. Najmul Islam from the board's Finance Committee," the CWAB said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"Since he has been given a showcause notice and since the BCB has asked for time due to procedural reasons regarding his directorship, we want to give that time. However, we hope that the process will continue."

"In addition, since Director M. Najmul Islam has publicly spoken insulting words about the cricketers, we hope that he will publicly apologise. We have informed the BCB that we are ready to return to the game from Friday if he publicly apologises and the process regarding his directorship is ongoing," the statement continued.

This keeps the ball firmly in the BCB's court to resolve the issue, but some of the people present on the call with Aminul have told ESPNcricinfo that they are not very optimistic.

BPL under cloud

There are two BPL matches scheduled for Friday: Dhaka Capitals vs Rangpur Riders at 2 pm local time and Chattogram Royals vs Rajshahi Warriors at 6 pm local time.

Earlier on Thursday, after the first match of the day was boycotted with players not taking the field at Mirpur-and before Najmul was removed from the chairmanship of the Finance Committee-Mithun had said in his presser:

"The discussion among the players has been that since yesterday night, we have been told 'procedure, procedure, procedure' at every step," he said.

"They [BCB] had come with a solution, but we did not agree. After that, they wanted 48 hours for their procedure, so I spoke to the players, and after discussion our question is: after 48 hours, if he does not resign, will we still stop playing?"

"We have protested, and therefore the first game today could not happen. Even if we play today's second game, but after 48 hours if he is not removed, then ultimately the game will stop again. Now we will go forward only on one condition: if the BCB comes to you guys and commits that they guarantee this man will not be part of the BCB within 48 hours, and that if he remains part of the BCB, then the cricketers' decision not to play won't earn them any punishment. And that the BCB will take full responsibility."

"If the BCB officially declares this, then we will move ahead, we think. We have already told them this, but we have not yet received such confirmation," he concluded.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team BCCI International Cricket Council Tamim Iqbal Cricket