Revealed: When will BPL 2025-26 begin again after boycott?

The Bangladesh players boycotted the BPL 2025-26 following controversial comments made by BCB director M Nazmul Islam.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is in disarray since the removal of Mustafizur Rahman from Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Since then, a lot has gone wrong with the board with their most recent mistake being making the players boycott the games of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL 2025-2026). The players from the two respective teams in Chattogram Royals and Noakhali Express, did not arrive for the game on Thursday.

The Bangladesh players decided to boycott the match following the comments of BCB director M Nazmul Islam, who made some controversial statements about the players. He disrespected former Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal, and called him an Indian agent after he suggested the BCB to have a word with the BCCI amid the tensions between two.

Nazmul further dragged the situation by saying that the BCB owe no compensation to their players if they decided to skip the T20 World Cup 2026. His comments further worsened the situation as the Bangladesh players decided to boycott BPL 2025-26. This drew a reaction from the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) President, Mithun, who said that the players were left with no choice except to boycott the matches following Nazmul’s controversial comments.

“We will only play after they meet our demands. Everything has a limit. He has crossed everything. I didn’t find any respect for cricket from his words,” Mithun told reporters in Dhaka. “We don’t think he should remain in this position. As a cricket board director, what does he want to do?” said Mithun.

BPL 2025-26 to resume from January 16

Meanwhile, now as per reports in ESPN Cricinfo, after a meeting between CWAB president Mohammad Mithun and BCB director Iftekhar Rahman, it was decided that BPL 2026 would resume on Friday. The announcement came via a press conference that began at 11.45 pm, where the BCB director stated

“Keeping the greater interest of cricket in mind, we will resume playing tomorrow [on Friday]. They [the BCB] have assured us that they will reach out to him [BCB director M Nazmul Islam] and fulfil our demands as early as possible.”

Previously, the CWAB had issued a statement demanding the removal of M Nazmul Islam. The BCB accepted the demand of the players and Nazmul was removed as finance committee chairman. However, he will still continue as a BCB director. Meanwhile, the players also demanded a public apology from him and reports in ESPN Cricinfo said that he had been given a timeframe of 48 hours to respond.

“He [M Nazmul Islam] has been given 48 hours to respond, which will end at noon on [Saturday]. Then it will go to the disciplinary committee, as per the constitution and the process will continue” BCB Director Iftekhar Rehman said.

The boycott forced the BCB to revise plans for the rest of the season as well.

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