Chittagong Kings haven't paid me a taka - Tamim

Tamim Iqbal has said that he has not yet been paid by Chittagong Kings for the first season of the Bangladesh Premier League. Tamim also said the franchise's owner and chief executive, Sameer Quader Chowdhury, asked him to tell the BPL governing council that he had been paid, though the franchise denied that claim. The BPL confirmed Tamim was the only unpaid Kings' player after the league's first season.

"I couldn't play many of the BPL matches, so I told him [Chowdhury] let's sit and decide a figure, which came to Taka 1 crore ($123,000), but I still haven't received a single taka," Tamim told the Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo. "Samir Quader Chowdhury gave me a check worth Taka 1 crore six or seven months ago, but it bounced. Since then he has given me dates but has never kept the commitment."

According to the initial BPL ruling, which asked franchises to pay its icon players 10% more than its highest-paid player, Tamim was supposed to receive $210,000 (Tk 1.7 crore approximately) as Chittagong's icon. Chowdhury, however, insisted the BPL governing council had changed the payment structure. The bounced cheque, he said, in fact had been stopped.

"We gave him the cheque a long time ago but we had stopped it because we found out that the payment for the icon players had been reduced to $100,000, which amounts to approximately Tk 80 lakh, and after 10% tax deduction it ends up as Tk 72 lakh," Chowdhury said. "We asked the board how much we should pay Tamim, but we haven't heard back from them. We asked them to take the fact that he played only two matches into consideration too. Unless they tell us, we can't pay him."

BCB director Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir, the secretary of the BPL governing council, said the league had asked the franchises to decide after discussion with individual players, on a case-by-case basis, as to what the icon salary should be pegged at.

"All the other franchises have spoken to their icon players and I expect it to end amicably with Tamim and Chittagong as well," Alamgir said. "He is the only unpaid player in their franchise and I expect it to be completed before the October 20 deadline, when the teams have to complete all payments."

Tamim also said he was asked to misinform the BPL about his payments. "Sameer [Quader Chowdhury] asked me to tell the board that I got my full payment, but I didn't. I informed the BPL governing council of what he asked me to do, though I didn't lodge a complaint. I didn't want to ruin my relationship with Sameer but now, after so long, I have no other options [but to tell the media]."

Chowdhury denied the claim, saying, "If that was true, why would I ask the board how much we should pay him?"

This is the latest episode in the fractious relationship between Tamim and the Chittagong franchise. After missing four BPL games due to a groin injury, Tamim was reportedly kept sidelined after a bust-up with Dean Jones, the team's technical director at the time. It escalated when he was left out of the team's first home game, though his name was initially in the playing eleven and later cut out. Jones soon left for India and Tamim played the following match. Both parties denied any problems at the time.