image source, Screen Grab/BCB/Getty Images
Even though there is not much success in the field game, for more than two centuries, Bangladesh cricket has been one of the occasions to celebrate together as Bangladeshis, forgetting the ethnic, religious and party identity.
The board of directors of that cricket’s governing body, the Bangladesh Cricket Board, has changed four times in less than two years – each time with politics allegedly behind the changes.
Analysts say that the Bangladesh Cricket Board has always had political influence from various parties. But the last two years have seen instability in the cricket board due to political influence.
After the change of power in Bangladesh in August 2024, Nazmul Hasan Papon stepped down from his duties.
Then after nine months, the directors of the board and the sports adviser of the interim government expressed their dissatisfaction with Farooq Ahmed sitting in the seat of the president. As a result, Farooq Ahmed was hastily removed and the National Sports Council appointed Aminul Islam Bulbul as the Cricket Board President in his place.
Aminul Islam Bulbul went from being an unelected president for more than three months to becoming the president through elections in October 2025, in which the investigation committee of the National Sports Council disbanded the elected committee and announced a new ad hoc committee headed by Tamim Iqbal citing allegations of political ‘interference’ in the election.
image source, Getty Images
Influence of politics on cricket board
Analysts say the influence of opposing political parties behind the October BCB elections and the formation of the recently announced ad-hoc committee is very clear.
BNP leader Ishrak Hossain and NCP convener Asif Mahmud, the then sports advisor, were involved in a conflict around the October election. A few days before the election, Tamim Iqbal held a press conference and complained about the ‘irregularities’ and ‘interference’ of the then interim government, where he was accompanied by several people associated with BNP, including Ishraq Hossain.
Interestingly, several people including Tamim Iqbal, many of whom are known to be family members of BNP leaders or BNP supporters, withdrew their nominations a few days before that election. At least four of the eleven members of the new committee headed by Tamim Iqbal are family members of BNP leaders.
Aminul Islam Bulbul, however, issued a press release the night after announcing the ad hoc committee, claiming the newly constituted committee as ‘illegal’ and ‘legally unacceptable’. He also demanded the intervention of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Asif Mahmud, who is alleged to have influenced the election, did not appear before the investigation committee. In an interview to a private TV channel, the reason for this was that the inquiry was illegal and the ministry had ‘no jurisdiction’ to investigate the activities of the autonomous board.
After reviewing the report of the investigation committee, the reason for Aminul Islam Bulbul’s complaint can be understood. Page nine of the inquiry committee’s 11-page report noted that the cricket board’s “constitution is fundamentally insufficient to ensure free, fair and transparent elections” and that the constitution’s “structural weaknesses have created an environment in which the detected irregularities have been allowed to occur.”
That is, according to the demands of the inquiry committee. Even if there were irregularities in the election, it was done according to the constitution of BCB, and in that case, the question of how legal it is to dissolve the elected committee and appoint a new ad hoc committee before changing the constitution is not unreasonable.
Again, the October election was held in accordance with the constitution of the BCB, but the political influence there was also an ‘open secret’.
image source, Tamim Iqbal – Facebook
Discussion in Parliament
BCB’s new ad hoc committee announcement has generated so much criticism that it has been discussed in the Parliament session.
MP Hasnat Abdullah gave an example of organizational factionalism while debating the bill on protection and accountability of the participants in the July mass uprising, saying that the BCB had become a ‘father’s blessing cricket board’.
In response to this, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmad said that during the interim government, the then Sports Advisor ‘influenced the district committee of the entire Bangladesh by exercising power’ and created the board committee ‘unilaterally’ by exercising power.
Mr. Ahmed A also said, ‘We have not prayed for any mother or father here.’
Not only in the last two years, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has always had the influence of politics, says Tahmid Amit, sports editor of a private television channel. However, he was saying that an attempt was made to take political advantage by keeping the image of the cricketers in front of the October elections and the recent formation of ad hoc committee.
“Politicization was already there in the board. Nazmul Hasan Papon during the Awami League period or Ali Asghar Labi when the BNP was in power before that became the president with the support of the ruling party.”
“But just like Aminul Islam Bulbul, the interim government’s sports advisor, influenced the elections, this time Tamim Iqbal’s image has also been used to influence the cricket board,” he said.
Soon after being named as the head of the ad hoc committee, Tamim Iqbal went to the Cricket Board and announced that he would contest the next election. As a result, the acceptability of BCB’s next election will also be questioned, he said.
“This board (ad hoc committee) is an election board. It has been said that this board will hold elections within three months. The head of this board came to the board on the first day and said that he will hold elections. So will there be a level playing field for others who will be elected?”, said Tahmid Amit.
The sports journalist said this process would create a ‘new trend’ of politicization on the board.
image source, ICC/BCB
What steps can the ICC take?
While presenting the report of the inquiry committee on Tuesday, the sports council director mentioned that the matter of election irregularities and formation of the inquiry committee has been informed to the ICC.
On the other hand, Aminul Islam Bulbul also mentioned in his press release that he will resort to the ICC in this regard.
However, sports journalist Tahmid Amit thinks that whether the ICC will take any action in this regard will not depend much on the complaint of Aminul Islam Bulbul or the statement of the Sports Council.
“The ICC has a separate body that monitors the cricketing activities of each member state. Even if no one complains, they look into things independently as they do.”
However, he thinks that we have to wait more to know whether ICC will take any action in this incident.
As an example, he cites the Pakistan Cricket Board’s history of tensions. He was saying that although the Pakistan Cricket Board did not dissolve the committee, there were many changes in the top positions of the board and many times the ICC did not take action.
Therefore, whether the ICC will take any action in the case of Bangladesh depends on the ICC’s agreement with the Sports Council, he said.
https://www.bbc.com/bengali/articles/c705j50djg6o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
