The recent success of the Bangladesh national cricket team has brought the nation both glory and joy but at the same time its parent organisation, the Bangladesh Cricket Board is going through a crisis which is alarming for the future of the game in the country. The Tigers’ recent series win against West Indies at home followed by a creditable series in Sri Lanka last month resulted in higher expectations than ever before. But while things remain stable on the field, off the field the BCB is struggling to properly manage the game much to the frustration of its stakeholders. While the unpaid salaries of most of the Bangladesh Premier League players is still a major problem to be solved, the BCB is being run by an ad-hoc committee after the last elected committee’s tenure expired on November 28, 2012. They have also yet to decide on the resumption of the Dhaka Premier League which is now long overdue. The country’s first franchise based Twenty20 competition BPL was introduced to provide the country’s promising cricketers a bigger platform to showcase their skills as well as to help them financially. However, two seasons into the experiment most of the cricketers have not been paid their promised salaries. While an alarming number of the cricketers have still not received payment for the first edition of the BPL, the promised wages for the second edition seem like a distant dream. Many of them are considering whether they should participate next time around. That decision leaves them between a rock and a hard place, either take a moral stand and wait for compensation or play next time around hoping that the money finally appears. It has also has become difficult for the debt burdened franchises to participate in another season and eventually the responsibility is on the BCB as it falls under their mandate to start the next edition on time after solving all problems. The BPL, however, is a new addition of the BCB and mostly features the country’s elite players while the Dhaka Premier League, a long established breeding ground for cricketers is long overdue after being held more than a year ago. The BCB is yet to move forward with the competition as the local clubs are too influential in the decision making process. This has taken the power out the BCB’s hands while the lack of unanimity among the clubs has only complicated the issue. The cricket board also cannot take decisive action to come over this problem as the election for a new governing body is around the corner and it is not the right time for the current ad-hoc committee members, most of who intended to participate in the polls. To annoy the clubs or voters now is not an option for them. The election is also alarming as the International Cricket Council’s given deadline is June for the new committee to be formed and with government interfering in the issue, some organisers could take the matter to court. Sri Lanka, recently submitted their elected board to ICC as well as Pakistan as they were given a similar deadline. This puts Bangladesh at risk of becoming the lone defaulter and they could be heavily punished for their non-compliance as well. Senior stakeholders of the sport who are involved with the game as organisers have found the situation alarming and say the game is about to enter a dark age if proper steps are not taken soon. “To be truthful the domestic competitions are very important to bring out new players and it is important for their financial security as well. The game will suffer a big blow if the players are forced to leave the game in absence of competitions or owed salaries,” said former Bangladesh spinner Mohammad Rafique. BCB’s media committee chairman Jalal Yunus Chowdhury however believes that they will be able to solve the problems in time and will be able to re-establish order. “The Board is taking steps to solve these problems as we are considering some firm action. We have a Board meeting tomorrow and I am hopeful that we can reach to a positive outcome after this meeting,” Jalal said.