Bangladesh players go on strike before India tour, BCCI president Ganguly remains hopeful

Dhaka/Kolkata: Bangladesh's upcoming tour of India was on Monday thrown into jeopardy after their national team players refused to participate in any cricketing activity until their demands, including a hike in salary, are met.

The boycott plan was announced by the country's top players such as Test and T20 captain Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim at a press conference here. Nearly 50 players are part of the protest.

A boycott of any cricket activity for the foreseeable future will have an immediate impact on the National Cricket League, currently in progress. The action could also jeopardise the training camp for next month's tour of India and possibly the tour itself.

During the tour starting November 3, Bangladesh are scheduled to play three T20 Internationals and two Test matches as part of the World Championship.

"We have to respect the local coaches, physios, trainers and groundsman. They get really a little amount of salary at the end of the month," senior opener Tamim Iqbal said on behalf of the players at the press conference.

The camp was supposed to start this week with the team's spin consultant Daniel Vettori in attendance.

India responded with a guarded statement, calling Bangladesh's internal matter. "The BCCI will wait and watch the developments closely.

This is an internal matter of the Bangladesh Cricket Board and until and unless we hear from them, there is no need for us to make any comments," a senior BCCI functionary told PTI.