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Published : 15 Jan 2026, 04:07 PM
Social media has been flooded with images of a nearly empty gallery at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, featuring Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Aminul Islam Bulbul standing alone near the pitch.
The former captain appeared visibly troubled as he stood where current players should have been preparing for the day’s play.
At a press conference in a Dhaka hotel on Thursday afternoon, the cricketers reiterated that they will not play any Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) matches until BCB Director M Najmul Islam resigns.
The opening match of the day was called off as neither Chattogram Royals nor Noakhali Express took the field, in line with the players' boycott.
The match was set for 1pm, while Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) called a press briefing that finally started at 2:30pm.
CWAB President Mohammad Mithun was joined by the national captains of all three formats --Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, and Mehidy Hasan Miraz -- alongside players from both BPL franchises.
At the briefing, the cricketers reiterated their decision and cited several other concerns linked to the issue.
The crisis began after Najmul’s remarks on Wednesday, when he launched a harsh verbal attack on the players.
Asked whether compensation would be provided if the Bangladesh team failed to qualify for the World Cup, he said: “If they cannot achieve anything, after spending crores on them, do we demand that money back or not? Answer me this question.”
Asked another question, he added: “We have spent so much on them, yet they achieve nothing in different arenas. Have we gotten a single global trophy so far? How much have we achieved, anywhere? Every time we could say ‘You failed to play, now pay us back for the money we spent…’.”
Najmul, who also chairs the board’s finance committee, recently sparked controversy by calling former captain Tamim Iqbal an “Indian agent”.
Following his latest remarks, CWAB held an emergency online briefing at 9:30pm on Wednesday, announcing a total cessation of cricket activities until the director stepped down.
Despite several BCB directors meeting with players at a hotel until late Wednesday night, no resolution was reached.
The board issued a statement at 9pm expressing regret and offering full support to the players, followed by another notice at 11:20am on Thursday confirming that the director had been served a 48-hour show-cause notice.
The cricketers, however, remain unmoved by the disciplinary process and continue to demand an immediate resignation.
This has left the day’s second match, scheduled for 6pm, facing extreme uncertainty.
