Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] has decided to provide financial aid to the cricketers outside of the board’s central contract. The decision from the governing body of cricket in the country has come as the cricketers are facing uncertainty about their income with the game suspended in the country until further notice due to coronavirus fear.
The players, who are not included in the BCB’s Central Contract list for National Cricketers or are not in the BCB’s First Class Player Contract, will receive a one-time amount of Taka 30,000 (Thirty Thousand Taka) from the Board to support their expenses during the League’s stoppage due the COVID-19 situation in the country.
All form of sports has been suspended around the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic and Bangladesh has been no different. With growing concern of coronavirus in the country, BCB earlier this month postponed all cricket activities in the country.
With no cricket, a large section of the professional players in Bangladesh has been forced to loss of income. At this point it is understood that the cricketers are to miss entire income from Dhaka Premier League which got suspended just after the second round this month.
Around 216 players are in the 12 DPL clubs for the 2019-20 season. Among them, about 60 players that are not part of BCB's payroll for the central contract or the first-class contract, face an uncertain future.
“With the tournament looking at an indefinite period of shut down, cricketers who are not part of the BCB’s contracts are likely to face financial hardship as they may have only received partial payment from their respective Premier League Clubs. This assistance is for that section of the players,” said BCB president Nazmul Hasan in a media release on Saturday.
Bangladesh till Saturday afternoon has confirmed five deaths and 48 cases from Covid-19 while four more patients have recovered from the novel coronavirus which meant that a total of 15 patients have recovered so far in the country.
