Bangladesh Premier League side Durbar Rajshahi are fielding zero overseas players against Rangpur Riders, in violation of the tournament's playing conditions.
At the toss ahead of the sides' face-off on Sunday (January 26), Rajshahi captain Taskin Ahmed confirmed that the team would not be fielding any overseas players, saying, "All locals today".
This is a rare sight in franchise T20 cricket. Most leagues have an upper limit on the number of overseas players that can be named in a playing XI, and on most occasions, franchises do fill that quota. Seeing a team go in with even one player less than that is rare. To name none at all is almost unheard of.
In this case, apart from being rare, it would appear to be a contravention of the Bangladesh Premier League's rules. According to the squad composition regulations, "Franchise must include minimum two (02) and maximum four (04) Overseas Players in its starting / playing XI on the field of play in any match all the time in relation to 9th, 10th & 11th edition/season of BPL T20." (the current season is the 11th).
Note: An overseas player is further defined by the regulations as "a player who cannot produce evidence satisfactory to BPL GC that he is Bangladeshi Player."
Why are Durbar Rajshahi being allowed to play without overseas players?
It is not clear as of now why the team are being allowed to field zero overseas players. What is known, however, is that the franchise has been in the news recently for reportedly not paying its players.
Ten days ago, the players had boycotted a practice session following multiple broken promises about the arrival of their payments, also accusing the franchise of being irregular with daily allowance payments. The players had to bear their own costs from January 5 to January 11.
Durbar Rajshahi subsequently promised to clear the pending dues, but there is not yet been any confirmation of payments coming through. It may be that this is a case of the overseas players taking a boycott to the next level by skipping a match, but nothing is confirmed at the time of writing.
However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board have confirmed via a media release that Durbar Rajshahi have been granted approval to play with only Bangladeshi players for this match.
Durbar Rajshahi playing XI against Rangpur Riders
Taskin Ahmed (c), Akbar Ali (wk), Jishan Alam, Sabbir Hossain, Anamul Haque, Yasir Ali, SM Meherob, Sunzamul Islam, Mohor Sheikh, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Mizanur Rahman.
Image credit: X/@BCBTigers
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