Different issues at different times saw the Bangladesh Cricket Board ad-hoc committee stormed with criticism. The Board was handed over to Nazmul Hasan led ad-hoc committee in November last. The committee was given the responsibility of the cricket in Bangladesh and also execute the board election in three months. However, it has been around a year now that the board is running by the make-shift committee and the ride has not been smooth so far.
The latest criticism to hit the BCB is Bangladesh’s participation in the World Cup Twenty20 2014. No one, including the cricketers and people from the board, assumed but was literally confirmed of seeing the Tigers play in the ICC event which will be held at their home in 2014, but recent reports in the media put a question mark on Bangladesh’s participation in the mega event.
Reports revealed that new regulations were formed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in October and as per the new rules the first eight teams in the ICC World Twenty20 ranking until October 2013 gets direct ticket to participate in the main event.
The tournament will feature 10 teams and the round is named ‘Super 10’, but the last two teams however, will have to play qualifiers and then confirm a berth in the top 10. Taking the rankings until October 2013 into consideration Bangladesh will have to play qualifiers along with Zimbabwe and six other countries. The eight teams in the qualifiers will be divided into two groups and the two group leaders will join the top eight teams in the Super 10 round.
Simple it sounds, but the stake is heavy. There is no confusion that Zimbabwe and Bangladesh will be in two different groups in the qualifiers, but one can hardly eliminate the chances of a negative result. Bangladesh not being able to lead the group in the qualifiers will see the Tigers become a mere spectator sitting in the stands and see the World event take place at their home.
The blame is now being put on three of the leading high-ups of the BCB who were present in the ICC meeting in October 2013. Former BCB president and current ICC vice-president AHM Mustafa Kamal, BCB ad-hoc president Nazmul and the acting CEO of the board Nizam Uddin Chowdhury were present in the meeting where the development took place.
“Sujon (Nizam Uddin Chowdhury) knew of the development since I was given the charge of the ICC vice-president. I left the BCB post after that and Nazmul (Hasan) took over the Board. The decision took place in the ICC general meeting in October last year. I tried to resist the decision and said why a Test playing nation needs to play qualifiers and on top of that that country is the host,” said former BCB boss and ICC vice-president Kamal to the media. Kamal further informed that the rule is applicable in ODI also.
The stake holders of Bangladesh cricket are shocked and irritated why this ICC development was not given light. Hardly anyone in the cricketing arena knew of the fact until it was published in a national Bangla daily last week and once revealed the news left all stunned.
“This is really unfortunate for us. I see this as an organisational failure. What advantages did we really have being a Test playing nation and have ICC vice-president from our country? Its fine that they failed to stop this from happening, but they should have at least informed everyone, if not everyone then at least the cricket operations, the coach and the players so that they could get them ready,” said former BCB director Shirajuddin Alamgir to Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
It is being said that the board might have thought of the financial benefit from hosting the event, many are saying cricket should have been the priority.
“Financial benefit is true, but at the end of the day how will the nation react to the event if they don’t see their team playing. It will be a World Cup, but it won’t mean anything to them to be honest,” said Alamgir.