Partex Sporting Club players have boycotted practice due to not receiving their wages and have threatened to boycott their Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League match against Gazi Group Cricketers scheduled to be played at the BKSP-3 today.
Partex, who are currently sitting 11th among 12 teams and fighting to avoid relegation, were scheduled to take part in a practice session at the Academy Ground of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
But maximum players boycotted the session and went to the BCB office nearby, where they sent a letter to the chief operating officer of the BCB and met one of the directors and head of cricket operations, Najmul Abedin Faheem.
The players alleged that most of them were yet to get more than 15 to 20 per cent of their payment. They said that they were asking for the payment to the club before the Eid break, but that didn鈥檛 work.
The management assured the players but didn鈥檛 fulfill that even after they took part in a match following Eid break.
After doing the gym session, the players鈥攍ed by two senior cricketers, Sabbir Rahman and Muktar Ali鈥攚ent to the BCB office to meet the CEO, Nizamuddin Chowdhury. However, as Nizamuddin was not present at that moment, they met Faheem instead.
Later Mukter told the reporters that they wouldn鈥檛 take part in their next match.
鈥楾his is not a one-day problem,鈥� said Muktar. 鈥榃e have been trying to contact the club for many days now. But they aren鈥檛 responding. That鈥檚 why we鈥檝e decided to boycott the practice session, and we won鈥檛 play tomorrow [today].
鈥楾he payment is so little for this club. Whoever is playing is playing for the sake of playing in the Premier League. It鈥檚 tough to say in terms of the percentages. Maybe some got Tk 1 lakh; others got just Tk 10,000. There are four to five players who have got around 50 per cent. The rest were given around 10 to 20 per cent,鈥� added Muktar.
It was learnt that Partex were preparing to play the match with some fringe players.
Joyraj Sheikh, one of their opening batters, said that the club management even threatened them to file complaints against them.
He said, 鈥榃e played amidst the hot weather during Ramadan. But whenever we asked for the money, the club administration threatened to file complaints against us.
鈥榃e have seen them sign new players in the CCDM today. You鈥檒l understand that the team has got other problems too when you see whoever is playing for them in the next match,鈥� he added.
The players, overall, who are participating in the league are getting a smaller amount this season in comparison to the previous seasons. It was learnt that the clubs decreased the salary after the amount was dropped in the last season of the BPL.
Earlier in the BPL, the players from Durbar Rajshahi boycotted a practice session, and their foreign players boycotted a match due to the non-payment issue. Now the BCB will have to handle that in the DPL too.
