Durbar Rajshahi's overseas players refused to play their BPL game against Rangpur Riders in Dhaka on Sunday over the franchise's non-payment of dues. When captain Taskin Ahmed was asked about changes in the playing XI by TV commentator Danny Morrison at the toss, he confirmed their absence.
"We have few changes. Four or five. Because no foreigners today. All the local players are playing today," Taskin said.
The BPL's rules state that a team must field a minimum of two overseas players in their XI this season. The BCB put out a statement soon after the toss saying the tournament's technical committee had granted approval for an all-local XI in this instance. "The Durbar Rajshahi team... has applied to the BPL Technical Committee for special approval to field a team consisting solely of Bangladeshi players for today's match against Rangpur Riders due to the non-availability of overseas players," the BCB said.
"After a review of the request and in accordance with the provisions outlined in Clause 1.2.8 of the Match Playing Conditions of BPL 2024-25, the Technical Committee has granted approval for Durbar Rajshahi to field a team consisting of only Bangladeshi players for this match." This was the first instance of a team playing a BPL game without overseas players in its XI.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that Rajshahi's overseas players have been paid only one-fourth of their total payment, when the BCB's rules for the franchises stipulate that they must pay at least 75% of their total dues during the tournament. The franshise did not pay its local players anything until the players protested, skipping training in Chattogram a couple of weeks ago.
The Rajshahi team owner Rahman also ran into trouble with their Chattogram hotel when he couldn't pay that bill on time. TV reports showed a security person stationed outside his hotel room, and a car he was using was reportedly seized.
The team changed hotels in Dhaka on Sunday morning. The overseas players remained at the hotel in Dhaka while Sunday's match got underway at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Incidentally, Rajshahi went on to win the match, a low-scorer that went into the last over with Rangpur needing an improbable 25 but almost pulling off a heist through No. 8 Mohammad Saifuddin who hit three sixes and a four for his side to fall short of the target by just three runs. That meant Rajshahi had done the double on league leaders Rangpur in the space of four days; Rangpur had won eight in a row before running into Rajshahi for back-to-back defeats.*
Rajshahi's overseas players this season are Ryan Burl, Mohammad Haris, Mark Deyal, Miguel Cummins, Aftab Alam and Lahiru Samarakoon. Burl was in the top three of both their runs and wickets charts this season going into Sunday's match, and had starred in their previous game when they became the first side to beat Rangpur this season.
*This story was updated after Sunday's Rajshahi vs Rangpur match.