The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made several important decisions during its latest board meeting held on Thursday.
A total of 11 directors were present, including BCB President Faruque Ahmed, Nazmul Abedin Fahim, Mahbub Anam, Akram Khan, Khaled Mahmud Sujon, Iftikhar Rahman Mithu, Kazi Inam, Fahim Sinha, Manjur Alam, Saiful Islam Swapan and Salauddin Chowdhury. The resignations of Tanveer Ahmed Titu and Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel were also announced at the meeting. BCB President Faruque discussed the issues they addressed during a post-meeting press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium conference hall.
"We all know that there has been some corruption," said Faruque. He stated that the board's financial activities will be scrutinized and an audit will be conducted to assess the transparency of BCB's internal income and expenditure. The audit will be carried out by one of the top four to five audit firms in the country.
Regarding the cancellation of the tender for the Sheikh Hasina Stadium in Purbachal, he said, "The BCB does not want to undertake such a large project at the moment. With the money saved, if we can build two playgrounds, we will prioritize that."
He also mentioned initiatives to restart the Third Division Qualifying League, with a proposal to reduce entry fees from five lakhs to 20-25 thousand.
The reformation of standing committees was supposed to take place during Thursday's meeting but was postponed. On this issue, Faruque stated, "Several directors have not yet joined the board. We don't know exactly how many board directors there will be. Therefore, we did not form the standing committees. But we may confirm the position of the board directors soon and then we will finalize the standing committees. I am considering taking charge of four standing committees, including Finance, Logistics and Grounds."
Nazmul Hasan Papon, Ahmed Sazzadul Alam Bobby, Jalal Yunus, Tanvir Ahmed Tito and Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel have already resigned but AJM Nasir, Naimur Rahman Durjoy, Sheikh Sohail, Ismail Haider Mollick, Advocate Anwarul Islam, Gazi Golam Mortuza Pappa, Ahmed Najib, Manzoor Quader and Enayet Hussain Siraj remained absent. According to the BCB constitution, they may lose their positions soon.
The BCB chief also expressed optimism about organizing the next BPL on time. "After today's board meeting, I am confident that we will be able to start the BPL on schedule. The first match is scheduled to take place on December 27. Before that, we will try to complete the draft and other preparations by September."
Regarding the Shakib Al Hasan issue, Faruque again stated, "If Shakib's case doesn't take any other form, he will be able to play. We know he is going to play county cricket for Surrey. The NOC was issued before my tenure began. Now, he may not return to the country and could join the India series from abroad. After the India series, we will decide on the next course of action."
The future of national team coach Chandika Hathurusingha was also discussed at the meeting. However, as the series against Pakistan is ongoing and the board is unwilling to take any decision right now regarding his position.
