Bangladesh cricket strike: BCB Prez Hassan's aggression stuns players

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan's aggressive attitude during the meeting held on Wednesday, October 24, 2019, between the board officials and the international cricketers on strike, especially his takedown of all-rounder Mehidy Hasan, apparently threw the players off to start with. One of the players even went on to say, to the local media, that the incident "rattled" them. However, the meeting ended on a positive note, with most of the players' demands being accepted.

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India vs Bangladesh cricket series unlikely to be affected

In what is good news for Indian cricket fans, the upcoming T20I and Test series between India and Bangladesh will not be affected after the Bangladesh players called off their strike on Wednesday as the BCB chose to accept most of their demands. The series will be played according to the pre-determined schedule. But the late-night peace deal wasn't struck without some drama of its own, as BCB president Nazmul Hassan singled out the country's leading all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz for some rough treatment before accepting that he had lost his temper.

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In many ways, the start of the meeting was a continuation of the previous day's press conference - Hassan targeting a player for taking personal favours from him and then joining the strike; that soured the mood of the group that had arrived in the evening which was hoping for an amicable solution. Hassan's outrage meant that the Bangladesh players who were quite vociferous with their demands for the past two days, were suddenly rattled. The resolution means Bangladesh's tour of India, which is set to start on November 3, 2019, will go ahead as planned. The third round of the National Cricket League (NCL), the country's traditional first-class tournament, was pushed back two days to Saturday, October 26, 2019.

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Bangladesh Test captain Shakib Al Hasan, who led the players in discussion with the board, was reportedly happy with the outcome. The BCB stayed out of discussions about the fresh elections of the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh [CWAB], but the association's president Naimur Rahman agreed to hold elections soon. The players said that they wanted a representative from the current players so that they could regularly speak to the board about their issues. This representative is going to be a pivotal point for the rest of their demands, as the BCB committed that once this person is elected, they will respect the position. Hassan also agreed to the demand of infrastructural development in cricket centres across the country in one consolidated go and not one by one as was previously planned by the board.

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