New Delhi: Premier foreign players will make themselves unavailable if Bangladesh Premier League continue to falter on payments, World Cricketers Association chief executive Tom Moffat has said.
Pending dues of Durbar Rajshahi franchise has forced the Bangladesh government to form a fact-finding committee for BPL payments, threatening legal action if payments are not cleared.
It forced BPL governing council member secretary Najmul Abedin to admit that the Bangladesh Cricket Board has failed to get appropriate owners for the tournament’s franchises.
Moffat said that BPL is losing credibility due to all-round negativity and is this trend continues then top players would refuse to play in it.
“We expect that leagues with non-payment issues will continue to lose access to the best players “It’s disappointing to hear about more non-payment issues in the Bangladesh Premier League, which has been a repeat offender over a number of years,” he told Cricbuzz.
“These issues are unacceptable, they aren’t getting better, and it’s the players who make the event that are impacted.”
‘Livelihood’s at stake’
The BPL’s ongoing edition is scheduled to end on February 7 with Fortune Barishal facing Chittagong Kings in the final. The BCB will then begin a new three-year cycle for finalisation of franchises.
“In any league that is officially sanctioned, players should have confidence that their contracts have some basic protections and minimum standards in them, and that they can be enforced efficiently,” Moffat told the cricket-specific website.
“The game is not currently capable of solving transnational issues like this at the moment, and that needs to change at global level if it wants to continue to claim to be a leading global sport in 2025.
“In the meantime any governing body that has been part of sanctioning an offending league should be doing everything within its power to ensure players are paid what they are owed urgently, and considering people’s livelihoods are at stake,” he added.
Pending dues of Durbar Rajshahi franchise has forced the Bangladesh government to form a fact-finding committee for BPL payments, threatening legal action if payments are not cleared. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
