New Delhi: The payment crisis in the Bangladesh Premier League fell to a new low on Sunday after Durbar Rajshahi bus driver, who had been carrying the team across Bangladesh locked away their kit bags.

According to a report in Cricbuzz, the belongings of the players (both foreign and overseas) were trapped inside the bus after the driver refused to return the kit bags to the players unless he recieved his outstanding payment.

“The kit bags of local and foreign cricketers are there in the bus but I cannot give them as large portion of our remuneration is yet not paid,” Mohammad Babul, bus driver of Rajshahi, told the media in front of the team hotel.

In what is one of the worst cases of payment crisis in franchise cricket history, the players and staff of BPL franchise Durbar Rajshahi have yet to receive the payments for more than a month since the BPL 2025 began on December 30.

On Sunday, the owner of Rajshahi, Shafiq Rahman, told the media that they have arranged tickets for the overseas cricketers to return to their respective countries.

Massive embarrassment for Bangladesh cricket as payment crisis continues

The announcement came after reports of overseas players being stranded in their team hotel in Dhaka after the franchise continued to miss payment deadlines. All this while, the owners and members of the team management did not respond to players’ and staff’s calls.

Overseas players including Mohammad Haris (Pakistan), Aftab Alam (Afghanistan), Mark Deyal (West Indies), Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe) and Miguel Cummins (West Indies) are still waiting to receive some portion of their payments. According to reports, a couple of them have recieved 25 per cent of their respective dues but others haven’t been paid at all.

Despite owners giving assurances of clearing the payment, a host of local cricketers of the Durbar Rajshahi camp left the hotel without getting their due payment.

Rajshahi owner grilled by police

The non-payment issue had reached a boiling point after players boycotted practice sessions and foreign cricketers opted out of a group phase during the tournament.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board intervened to resolve the player’s payment issue it is highly likely that Durbar Rajshahi’s foreign cricketers will leave Bangladesh without getting their due remuneration.

Shafiq, the owner of Rajshahi was on Monday (February 3) sent to police custody for interrogation regarding the payment crisis. According to the Cricbuzz report, he has promised to clear the dues in three phases respectively on February 3,7 and 10.