An opening ceremony was not in the International Cricket Council’s World Twenty20 wish list, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board, in between all the rush of hosting the biggest 26-day world event in terms of teams, took the pain of organising a mega concert which they named “BCB Celebration Concert”. Featuring the Indian legend AR Rahman and Senegalese American R&B artist Akonthe concert is dated tomorrow at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, but instead of fetching praise the programme has raised eyebrows.
According the reports in the media the total project cost of the event is between Tk14-18 crores and it is fully funded by the BCB as the ICC did not sanction the event.
Questions have been raised regarding the financial benefit as a huge amount of money is spent on the concert. Moreover, there are members from within the BCB who have questioned if the event is financially benefitting few of those involved with the event.
Meanwhile, the event has also jeopardized Bangladesh Football Federation’s (BFF) domestic calendar. The BFF was never up for providing the Bangabandhu National Stadium as it will hamper their scheduled games. But the football body was helpless after the NSC (National Sports Council) thumped their decision of handing over BNS to the BCB for five days.
It was reported that few of the BCB officials also criticised the decision to bring foreign artists, more so because the board had earlier turned down of using the DRS during the Tests against Sri Lanka to cut costs.
The most surprising part of the event is even the board is unaware of what’s happening. The board till yesterday failed to answer the journalists of their media accreditation as most of the local journalists were handed a “Special Enclosure” ticket which was stamped Tk5000.