Speaking from Rawalpindi to PakPassion.net several Pakistani cricketers, who played in the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), have confirmed that they are yet to receive all of the match fees that were due to them from the BPL.

By Saj Sadiq (27th March, 2012)

Speaking from Rawalpindi to PakPassion.net several Pakistani cricketers, who played in the inaugural Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and are currently taking part in the Super 8s Twenty20 Cup, have confirmed that they are yet to receive all of the match fees that were due to them from the BPL.

The Bangladesh Premier League ran from 9th February to the 29th February and was won by a star studded Dhaka Gladiators team who had some big international names such as Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved, Azhar Mahmood, Imran Nazir and Kieron Pollard, within their ranks. The Dhaka Gladiators also employed the English coach Ian Pont as their head coach and defeated the Barisal Burners by 8 wickets in a one sided final.

The President of Bangladesh Zillur Rahman announced the launch of the tournament during the opening ceremony at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium and the tournament attracted very good attendances throughout and despite some fixing allegations, proved to be a successful venture by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

A total of 33 matches were held with 25 matches played in Dhaka and the remaining 8 matches were held in Chittagong and some observers have pinpointed the BPL as one of the reasons for Bangladesh's good performance at the recent Asia Cup tournament.

Given the high profile of the BPL tournament and its coverage round the world, the claims made by Pakistani cricketers about outstanding payments are cause for grave concern especially given the fact that there was no indication of when the dues will be paid. The cricketers, speaking on the condition of anonymity expressed similar views to PakPassion.net.

One of the cricketers stated "Our team management informed me that the payment schedule was that we would receive 25% initially, then another payment of 50% before 22nd March and the remaining 25% would be paid to us within 23 days of the completion of the tournament. Unfortunately I have only received the initial payment of 25% and nothing further."

A second Pakistani cricketer stated "75% of my monies are due and I am not really getting anywhere with regards to obtaining the outstanding monies from the BPL. I have phoned my contacts at the BPL on several occasions and I keep getting told that the monies should be sent to me soon, but the money has not yet materialised."

A third Pakistani cricketer stated to PakPassion.net "It feels like we are being given the run around with promises. It's worrying! I gave my all during the tournament and delivered my end of the bargain. It is only fair that we are paid what was promised to us, what we signed for and what we are due. It was Halal work that we did and the BPL needs to ensure that payments are made in full as a matter of urgency. We have families too and what is happening is not good for the image of the BPL and could put players off from playing in this tournament in future."

Julien Fountain the current Pakistan fielding coach who was the assistant coach of the Dhaka Gladiators mentioned on his twitter account that he too was awaiting outstanding monies and wrote "Not only players. Oh and still waiting for flight reimbursement and win bonus". He further added on twitter "Seems to be a similar situation across most franchises. Not a good advert for attracting players from overseas for next year".

No BPL official was available for comment regarding the allegations.