The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2025-26 is set to resume on Friday after late-night discussions between the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh. The competition faced disruption when players boycotted matches over Nazmul Islam’s comments.
The impasse was resolved late on Thursday night after a meeting between the BCB and the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh. After talks, the players confirmed that they would return on Friday as Nazmul lost his post as chairman of the board’s finance committee and publicly apologized for his comments.
Boycott of players started due to Nazmul Islam’s comment
The trouble started when Nazmul made several strong comments at the beginning of the week. He called former captain Tamim Iqbal an “Indian agent” for suggesting talks between the two cricket boards. Nazmul also claimed that BCB has no obligation to compensate players if they miss the T20 World Cup.
Tamim had talked about resolving the T20 World Cup venue issue that started after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) released Mustafizur Rahman from IPL 2026 on the instructions of BCCI.
These comments enraged the players and they announced a complete boycott of cricket and demanded the removal of Nazmul. The BPL match between Noakhali Express and Chattogram Royals at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday had to be postponed due to the protests.
Bangladesh Premier League set to resume on Friday
During a press conference at the BCB headquarters, Mohammad Mithun said the players agreed to return on Friday after considering the broader well-being of the game. He said that the board had promised to engage with Nazmul Islam and fulfill the demands of the players as soon as possible.
“Keeping in mind the widespread interest of cricket, we will resume play tomorrow [on Friday]. They [the BCB] assured us that they will contact them [BCB director M Nazmul Islam] And fulfill our demands as soon as possible,” Mithun said.
BCB on Thursday removed Nazmul from the post of chairman of the finance committee with immediate effect. Notably, this decision was taken to ensure that cricket continues without any disruption. The BCB President will serve as the interim chairman of the committee.
We welcome the decision to remove Mr. Nazmul Islam – Mohammad Mithun
In a statement, the board said that “the interests of cricketers are its top priority” and asked them to maintain professionalism during the difficult period. Nazmul issued a public apology, which the Bangladesh Cricketers’ Welfare Association agreed to accept.
CWAB president Mohammad Mithun welcomed Nazmul’s removal from the finance committee and said the players were ready to return to action and continue the tournament.
“We welcome the decision to remove Mr. Nazmul Islam from the Finance Committee,” Mithun said. “Since he has publicly apologized and the formal process is underway regarding his directorship, we are ready to return to the field and resume play.”
BPL will restart under the revised schedule. Notably, the agreement ended the intense 24-hour period that had halted all cricket activities in the country.
Also read: BCB removes Nazmul Islam from the post of finance committee chairman amid threats of Bangladesh cricket boycott