Can Bangladesh Cricket Board president Tamim Iqbal cross his first major hurdle?
That question is gaining traction in the country’s cricket fraternity as Tamim is expected to meet members of the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on September 1. The meeting comes after the two sides failed to reach a conclusion during their previous meeting on August 30.
Tamim, along with some of his fellow board directors, met CWAB members amid growing uncertainty among the players over their immediate future after the BCB president announced that the board would not host the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a major source of income for local cricketers, until issues preventing the tournament from reaching its desired potential are resolved.
Some of the franchises have agreed in principle that they are willing to wait for a better BPL in the future.
While Tamim and his board, along with the franchises, appear willing to take the time needed to fix the BPL’s structural issues, that has hardly been the case with the majority of the national cricketers, who have been reluctant to accept the decision.
The cricketers demanded a separate tournament in place of the BPL, but that proposal was not approved by Tamim and his colleagues during the last meeting. Instead, the board offered them the opportunity to play NCL T20, with an increase in match fees to mitigate the financial losses they are expected to incur in the absence of the BPL this year.
Several leading cricketers, however, have raised reservations about the proposed increase in match fees, arguing that the additional amount would hardly compensate for what they earn by playing in the BPL.
A leading cricketer in the BPL earns around BDT 80 lakh, while A-grade players are expected to earn roughly half that amount. The hike in NCL T20 match fees, however, would fetch them only around 20 percent of what they could earn from the BPL if they play through to the end of the six-team tournament.
Tamim has strong logic behind his decision not to host the BPL. He believes that unless a proper structure is put in place for the tournament, there is no way to build it into a stronger brand or product in the future.
The players, however, have other ideas, as they are less interested in looking too far ahead. “I think we are thinking about the future much more and all the time we are saying that doing this and that will bring good in future but what about the present,” a frustrated cricketer asked on request of anonymity.
“We have to think about the present as well and who can assure that we will get everything in future that is being offered? We have to keep in mind that with time lot of things change and we have witnessed that time and again. So we feel we need to take a decision that will secure our present as well as lay the platform of our future rather than taking a decision that makes us feel that we are only interested in preparing the future of the country at the expense of our financial sacrifice,” he said.
Tamim has always been a president who enjoyed the backing of the cricketers, who wholeheartedly supported him. But, with the way things are panning out, it is safe to say that a section of the players are no longer shy about expressing their displeasure with his mode of operation in their close circles.
Tamim is well aware that the cricketers will be disappointed by the absence of the BPL, given the financial setback it represents for them. He has said publicly on several occasions that he understands their frustration. The problem, however, is that the players are not ready to accept the bigger picture at the expense of losing out financially in the present.
Tamim will need all his leadership qualities to manage the cricketers, who remain his major source of strength to date. If that relationship begins to fray, it would surely represent a significant setback for him, if not anything else.
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