Miraz stays on but won’t return to captaincy role if asked

After a day of drama in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) outfit Chattogram Challengers' ranks, Mehedi Miraz revealed in a press conference at the team hotel that he will be staying on as a Chattogram Challengers player but will not take over as captain if he is asked to do so by the team management again.

Earlier, after holding talks with the management this noon, Miraz relayed his wish to leave the team hotel and depart for Dhaka, unhappy with the manner is which he was stripped of captaincy. He was convinced to stay with the team by the logistics manager of the franchise, who managed to bring Miraz back into the team hotel for more discussions. Later this evening, Chattogram held a press conference to shed some light on the dramatic scene that unfolded at noon.

Miraz pointed out that he was hurt by how the team management stripped him of the captaincy only three hours before the game against Khulna Tigers yesterday

"Had they informed me earlier, there would not have been any problems. It's their team and they can give the captaincy to whoever they want. I didn't ask them to make me captain and it's not a problem now that they have replaced me as captain. The thing is, I was hurt that they didn't notify me earlier. I think any cricketer would have been hurt by something like that.

"I would have asked to go anyway since my mother is sick, so I had to go to her," he said before adding that since there are important games coming up, he was convinced to stay for the next matches in the Chattogram phase of the tournament by team owner Rifat Uzzaman.

The franchise owner Rifat, who talked before Miraz during the press conference had said that miscommunication was at the centre of the bizarre scenario regarding Miraz.

"There was some miscommunication which created a communication gap. A lot of things happened within a short period of time. There was some communication gap between the captain and the team management regarding our overall planning. I agree with Miraz that finding out [that he is not captain anymore] during the day of the match is quite shocking.

"We have talked and sorted things out," Rifat told the media.

It was clear at noon that Miraz had some issue with the Chattogram Challengers' chief operation officer (COO) Yeasir Alam as the player had told the media earlier during his attempted departure that if the COO stayed with the team, he will not be playing.

"Yeasir have explained his communication issues to us and has said sorry," Rifat said at the press conference.

Asked why Miraz was stripped of captaincy in the first place, Rifat said: "There was some technical differences between the two sides [Miraz and the management]. The kind of cricket we were playing was high risk and there were some differences with Miraz in that regard."

The team owner also said that he was aware of the decision to make Naeem Islam the captain and had agreed with the management's decision in the first place.

Yesterday, in a surprise move, it was revealed right before the toss that there was a change of captaincy. When the franchise was sought to make a comment on the issue, more surprise was in store for reporters at the press box. The franchise COO Yeasir told the media yesterday that coach Paul Nixon had left for England after being called in by his county club Leicestershire. Rumours floated in that Nixon himself had instructed management to relieve Miraz of the role. Miraz later informed at noon today that he had talked to Nixon and the coach himself told him that there was no such communication.

While the franchise did manage to keep Miraz with the team, that there were some lingering issues, was obvious.

"If I am asked to captain again, the truth is that I will not accept the captaincy. I will stay on as a player but I won't take over as captain if the management asks me."