In the latest episode of the Bangladesh Premier League's ongoing controversy, Durbar Rajshahi announced on Sunday that its foreign players and coaching staff were beginning to depart for their respective countries, following media reports that they had been stranded in Bangladesh due to a non-payment issue.
It was reported that Rajshahi鈥檚 foreign recruits Mohammad Haris (Pakistan), Aftab Alam (Afghanistan), Mark Deyal (West Indies), Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe), and Miguel Cummins (West Indies) were all waiting for some portion of their dues.
Some of them have been paid 25 per cent of their payments, while some haven't been paid at all. It was also reported that the players haven't received their daily allowances for the last 11 days.
鈥楧urbar Rajshahi's foreign players and coaching staff will start departing for their respective destinations from tonight [Sunday night] after completing their stint in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League T20,鈥� said a media release provided by Rajshahi on Sunday.
鈥楻ajshahi's Zimbabwean all-rounder Ryan Burl is set to depart for Harare tonight at 3:00am by Ethiopian Airways, while Pakistan's Mohammad Haris will leave for Lahore at 1:40pm by Thai Airways,鈥� it continued.
鈥楬ead coach Ajaz Ahmed will also fly tomorrow while Miguel Cummins is set to depart on February 5. The remaining players will depart at the earliest possible time subject to getting available flight tickets,鈥� it added.
Rajshahi, who were eliminated from the group stage, has been under scrutiny over the non-payment issue to the players throughout the BPL.
Their overseas players even boycotted one match after not getting their salaries on an expected date.
BCB then had to intervene and later granted Rajshahi a special approval to field an all-local eleven despite the rules that said that a minimum of two overseas players must be included in the eleven.
BCB then said that they would take a hard step against such a franchise that brought disrepute to Bangladesh Cricket.
Later, the adviser to the sports and youth ministry, Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, told reporters on Saturday that he personally met the owner of Rajshahi.
鈥業 have spoken to the owner of Rajshahi directly today,鈥� the advisor told reporters in Mirpur on Saturday.
鈥楬e assured us that he would sort out the issue regarding the salaries. We told him that if he failed or he didn鈥檛 do it, then we would not be limited to only talking. We will take legal steps,鈥� added Asif.听
However, the member secretary of the BCB governing council, Nazmul Abedin Faheem, admitted that they should have been more careful in choosing the franchises.
BCB president Faruque Ahmed said that Durbar Rajshahi has done something that is so bad that it is enough to 鈥榙emolish the tournament.鈥�
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