BCB announces Tk2 crore reward for women cricketers

BCB Monday announced a cash reward of Tk2 crore for the triumphant Bangladesh women's cricket team following their title winning campaign at the Asia Cup T20I 2018.

The women in red and green defeated six-time champion India by three wickets in the final Sunday at Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Bangladesh women cricketers earlier set foot in Dhaka Monday evening. Following their arrival, the women cricketers were taken straight to Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon where the BCB was having a prescheduled board meeting. After Iftar, the cash reward was announced.

ICYMI: Read more on Bangladesh's stunning victory over India in the final of the Women's Asia Cup https://t.co/BnsllIMjPL #ACC #WAC2018 pic.twitter.com/6JH3InNYCS

— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) June 11, 2018

“We have decided to pay all the players Tk10 lakhs each. There will also be separate rewards based on individual performance, and a separate bonus for the team management. Overall, the bonus is worth Tk2 crores,” said BCB president Nazmul Hasan to the media Monday.

The BCB chief informed that another felicitation programme for the women’s team will be held on behalf of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina once she returns to the country. PM Hasina is currently on a four-day visit to Canada for the outreach session of G7 Summit at the invitation of her Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau.

Nazmul during his interaction denied allegations against the board of not taking care of the women cricketers. Explaining the BCB’s efforts with the women’s wing committee, Nazmul said, “The board has revised their fee structure just last year. We introduced central contract for them and the best cricketers are being paid Tk 30,000 per month. You have to understand that many have just started playing. It will be tough if you compare it with the men’s fee structure. It will never be wise to compare them with the best of the men’s team like Tamim (Iqbal), Shakib (al Hasan), Mushfiqur (Rahim) or (Mahmudullah) Riyad. But the women’s team’s success will now make the board’s job easy. This win should inspire many girls to play cricket.”

For more pictures from the finals and other matches of the 2018 Women's Asia Cup, please visit the ACC's Facebook page. (Asian Cricket Council). #WAC2018 #ACC pic.twitter.com/UVjpbVi6mJ

— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) June 10, 2018

Meanwhile, the BCB during the meeting also made crucial decisions regarding regional cricket.

“We have drafted a constitution for the regional cricket association. That was submitted in the board meeting [Monday]. This will now be forwarded to the legal team of the board and once it is returned by them, we will place it in Annual General Meeting for approval,” said Nazmul.

“But we are not sitting back for that. While work on constitution is in progress, we are forming working committee for regional cricket starting with Chittagong, Rangpur, Sylhet and Rajshahi. The BCB directors respecting these regions are the conveners of these working committees. The convener will form those committees involving the counselors from the respective regions. They will be responsible for immediate start of operation of cricket academy in their region. At the same time, they also need to introduce regional cricket league. So we are starting operation on test basis in the four regions which I have mentioned to find out the obstacles and other facts. Based on the result of this test we will start operation in other regions, as, by that time, the constitution will be ready,” Nazmul added.