In a sudden twist of events on the eve of the start of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2025 season, the head coach of Noakhali Express, Khaled Mahmud, and assistant coach Talha Jubair left their team’s training session at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium due to displeasure at not having access to basic facilities such as practice balls. This took place a day prior to the start of the competition.
The event has raised many eyebrows in the cricketing world as it has shed light on the problems being encountered in the preparation of the budding franchises in the BPL.
Mahmud was seen upset as he left the grounds in an auto-rickshaw with Jubair in the company of the latter. His quotes include the statement that he would not work in the BPL under these conditions.
irresponsible behavior with the Noakhali Express franchise as the reason.
Poor Training Conditions Lead to Noakhali Express Coaches Walkout
The next day, on Thursday, before the season-opening match in BPL 2025, the training staff from Noakhali Express arrived at the stadium in Sylhet for their training session.
Yet, on inspecting the ground, they were dismayed to note that there were practice balls in barely enough numbers to hold a training session. This incident frustrated Mahmud and another player named Jubair to the point that they walked out in protest.
Addressing the situation in a emotive tone, Mahmud pointed out that such terms have never been experienced before in the BPL. “I have never seen this in the BPL before,” he said. Although the players started off with an early departure, they proceeded with their trainings, with some popular players such as Johnson Charles, Kusal Mendis, Mohammad Nabi, and some of the Bangladeshi players in attendance.
The Aftermath: A “Misunderstanding” and Ap
After this walkout, some team officials tried to persuade Mahmud and Jubair to return to their stadium. They agreed that it is not common for such a mistake to happen. After some time, Mahmud and Jubair returned to the training facility. This time, Mahmud claimed that what had happened was simply “misunderstanding.”
In a subsequent interview, Mahmud admitted that perhaps a reaction was made to the unavailability of equipment and conceded: “I think I may have overreacted in the situation.”
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He has since apologized for his outburst and explained that he has even held discussions with the owners of the Noakhali franchise and discussions have also taken place with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
BCB Notifies Incident
This case has also attracted the interest of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), who are currently investigating the case. Noakhali Express is one of only four new teams that have been added to the BPL competition for the 2025 season, making this particular case worrying for the organizers.
The walkout took place just a few hours after another important BPL-related event, in which Triangle Services Limited, or the owners of the Chattogram Royals team, withdrew from the competition due to a lack of interest among sponsors. Both events have left the BCB scrambling to sort out problems before the start of the BPL season.
Will This Affect BPL 2025?
With the start of the Bangladesh Premier League looming near, the incident involving the Noakhali Express walkout has also brought into question the readiness of new teams to take part in BPL and logistical factors being encountered by BPL itself.
The intervention of BCB is expected to play an imperative role in this scenario as well. With all the attention turned to BPL organizers at this moment, fans as well as players are hoping for more effortless proceedings during this tournament.
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