BPL council intervenes to end Mehidy-Challengers dispute

BPL's governing council summoned Challengers' team owner, COO, and Mehidy to sought an explanation from them. © BCB
A Bangladesh Premier League official said on Friday (February 4) that both Mehidy Hasan and Chattogram Challengers regretted their respective actions after their recent controversial disagreement in public. Mehidy wanted to leave the BPL from Chattogram after thefranchise sacked him from captaincy citing that 'he was informed just before the start of the game' and later the Challengers managed to convince him to stay back and continue his participation in the tournament, courtesy of team owner MD Dato KM Rifatuzzaman's intervention.

BPL's governing council on February 3 summonedChallengers' team owner Rifat Uzzaman, chief operating officer, Syed Easir Alam, and player Mehidy and sought an explanation from them.

"We decided to speak to Miraz and the Challengers' officials to find out the reasons for their reactions in public which gave birth to unwarranted speculations. Both the player and the franchise officials admitted that they had acted unreasonably without considering the consequences. It was a case of miscommunication that should have been settled amicably within the team. They have expressed their regret for allowing the situation to escalate and accepted responsibility for causing embarrassment to the board and the tournament," BPL governing council member, secretary Ismail Haider Mallick, said in a statement on Friday.

"After meeting the player and officials, the board is satisfied that this was an internal management issue of the Chattogram Challengers which has since been resolved. We also understand that the decision to replace Miraz as captain, which apparently triggered the misunderstanding, was communicated to the player by the management well in advance of the team's ensuing match," he said, hinting that Mehidy was not entirely telling the truth regarding being informed just three hours before the game.

"The Board has reminded the player and franchise officials of their responsibility towards the event and has reiterated its zero-tolerance policy on discipline and integrity," he added.