Bangladesh cricket is already in tatters, and even the fans now seem to be losing interest. The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), which was recently halted due to a players’ boycott, brought former Pakistan
captain Ramiz Raja into the commentary panel to add some star appeal. However, Raja found himself in an awkward moment at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Dhaka when the crowd failed to respond to his appeal for cheers.
Raja requested the fans to ‘make some noise’ before the start of a BPL fixture. However, the spectators didn’t respond, maintaining an awkward silence in the venue. The former cricketer quickly covered up the embarrassment, stating that the fans didn’t want to make noise. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media, making Raja a butt of jokes.
🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/IUaxVkxlHZ
— arfan (@Im__Arfan) January 19, 2026
On January 15, 2026, the BPL faced an unprecedented crisis when a complete player boycott forced the cancellation of all matches scheduled for the day. The conflict arose from controversial public remarks made by M Najmul Islam, chairman of the BCB Finance Committee, who called former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal an “Indian agent” for suggesting a diplomatic approach to resolve the ongoing T20 World Cup venue dispute with India.
The situation worsened when Islam claimed that Bangladeshi players did not deserve compensation for missing the World Cup and should instead return “crores of taka” to the board due to their poor past performances. His comments sparked widespread outrage within the cricketing community and drew strong opposition from players.
As tensions escalated, the country’s cricketers’ welfare body launched a protest, and two BPL franchises refused to leave their hotels for the Dhaka-leg fixtures. With the tournament on the brink of collapse, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) convened an emergency late-night meeting to address the crisis.
In a decisive move, the BCB removed Najmul Islam from his finance role and initiated disciplinary action against him. Although a compromise was reached and the BPL resumed on January 16 under a revised schedule, the incident left lasting damage to the league’s image and highlighted deeper issues within Bangladesh cricket.
