Bangladesh Cricket Board Chairman Tamim Iqbal announced on Thursday (September 3) that they have decided to increase the match fees of cricketers. Earlier, Cricbuzz I mentioned Players are left insecure after the Bangladesh Central Bank decided to postpone the upcoming edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, the country’s only franchise-based T20 tournament.
A section of cricketers were not shy about showing their displeasure with the senior officials of the Cricketers Welfare Association, who were taking up the issue with the board on their behalf.
The BCB Working Committee met at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday before Tamim called an impromptu press conference to announce a historic increase in match fees across domestic cricket formats.
Under the new match fee structure, men’s cricketers will get Tk 1.5 lakh per first-class match, up from Tk 70,000. Tamim himself increased the fee to Tk 1 lakh when he took over as chairman of the ad hoc committee of BCB.
The List A match fee has also been doubled, with players set to receive Tk 1 lakh per match, up from Tk 50,000. The domestic T20 match fee has been increased to Tk 80,000 from Tk 40,000.
The match fee for the four-day women’s match has been increased from Tk 20,000 to Tk 40,000. For one-day matches, it has been raised from Tk 15,000 to Tk 30,000, while the T20 match fee has been doubled from Tk 10,000 to Tk 20,000.
“So, one or two suggestions came from the players’ side. Ultimately, we are both sides – I don’t consider it two sides at all. There is only one side, and we are all one. The cricketers, the cricket board, the directors, the president – they are all one,” Tamim told reporters after a meeting with the BCB’s working committee at the board’s headquarters in Mirpur.
“So, what we all decided together is that, generally speaking, in the BPL, you will see 50, 60, 65, 70 domestic cricketers playing. But if you think about Bangladeshi cricket, in first-class, List A, T20, there are plus or minus 150 to 200 cricketers involved,” he said.
“Now, their well-being, in the Dhaka League, perhaps financially, as it was two or three years ago, may have gone down. In addition, since the I-League will not be held this year, there may be a financial impact,” he said.
“But I never wanted a one-year solution for the players. I wanted there to be a solution. The board wanted there to be a solution that would benefit them year after year after year,” he said, adding that he believes the move will help the cricketers remain financially stable once they play in BCB tournaments, where they will earn around Tk 3 lakh a month.
“Everything has increased by 100% or more. What’s the point of doing that? That’s the question. Now, if a local cricketer plays the entire season, including his salary, and if my calculations aren’t wrong, plus or minus, they will earn Tk 35,000 to Tk 40,000 a year. If you divide that by 12, the player will get an income of more than Tk 3,000 a month,” he explained.
“To manage their family, I don’t think they will need to worry anymore. It’s an important step,” he said, adding that he now wants professionalism from the players.
Tamim added that the BCB will not accept applications when it comes to players who fail the mandatory pre-season fitness test. “We will fully meet the demands that have come from the players’ side, but they also have to meet the demands of our side. There will be no sacrifice when it comes to professionalism in first-class cricket, which is something that is often discussed among us sometimes,” he noted.
He added: “When someone fails to pass the fitness test, there will be no requests or anything like that that will be heard. When the board gives everything and gives all the financial support, the professionalism of the players will now be monitored very strongly.”
Cricibuzz understands that BCB is no longer interested in continuing to bear the full financial burden of tournaments such as the National Cricket League (NCL) T20, Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) four-day and one-day competitions.
Under the proposed model, BCB plans to market the BCL Four-Day, BCL One-Day and NCL T20 tournaments as one commercial package. Each competition will feature six privately owned teams, with approximately 60 days allocated to the combined schedule.
However, the traditional eight-team, four-day NCL tournament will continue in its current format with divisional teams, along with a three-day NCL Second XI competition.
