'Everyone is very happy': Tamim unveils new fee structure, promises Tk 35-40 lakh yearly pay for domestic cricketers

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Tamim Iqbal has said domestic cricketers will earn Tk 35 to 40 lakh a year even without the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), as the board moves to compensate players for the tournament's absence in the 2026-27 season.

The board president had earlier declared that BPL, the country's lone franchise league competition, will not be held in the upcoming season.

Tamim, who took charge as BCB president this year, said he is putting the next edition on hold as his board no longer wanted to run the BPL through patchwork arrangements, though the tournament itself is not being scrapped entirely.

With the BPL off the calendar, the country's cricketers were set to face financial losses, prompting two rounds of talks between the BCB and Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB).

CWAB president Mohammad Mithun had said on Wednesday that the board will not arrange an alternative tournament to compensate the players for the missed BPL. Instead, the board was planning to increase the match fees across domestic cricket with the hopes that the players won’t be dependent on a single tournament for their livelihoods.

Tamim addressed reporters on Thursday after a meeting of BCB directors, making the domestic cricketers’ pay hike official.

"Everyone is very happy. A player who plays a full season of domestic cricket will earn Tk 35 to 40 lakh a year," Tamim said in a press briefing in Mirpur.

"We've had two meetings with CWAB. They made a proposal, we gave a counter-proposal. Then we sat again. We wanted time to hold our own internal meeting first."

“We are here to serve the cricketers. There is no question of our relationship with them turning sour," he added.

The BCB chief also detailed the revised match fee structure for domestic cricket.

"I won't do this for 60 cricketers, but for everyone. There will be a new tournament and all matches will increase," Tamim said.

"After I came in, I raised fees once while still with the ad-hoc committee, but no matches were played after that.

"From now on, players will earn Tk 1.5 lakh for the new four-day matches. It will be Tk 1 lakh for ODIs and Tk 80,000 for T20s," he added.

In women's cricket, the three-day format will now be extended to four days, and match fees will rise from Tk 20,000 to Tk 40,000, Tamim said.

Women cricketers will earn Tk 30,000 per ODI and Tk 20,000 per T20 match, according to the revised structure.

Tamim referenced past grievances raised by players over their treatment, and claimed that, as a former international cricketer, he has the insights to understand the players’ concerns.

"Many times, cricketers have been disrespected. I don't need to say anything new about that," he said.

He noted his own background as a former international cricketer as giving him insight into players' concerns.

"Since I was a cricketer myself, I played with them. Allah has given me some ability to understand their good and bad," Tamim said.

"Whatever needs to be done for them, I will do it," he added.