BCB walks on thin ice amidst political turmoil

FE Team | Published: August 20, 2024 22:13:30

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) finds itself in a soup after the ongoing political situation in the country. The cricketing system has suffered from the butterfly effect and it has become a cause of concern for the sport administration in Bangladesh, reports Cricbuzz.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan's days are numbered following the fall of the Awami League government. The veteran organizer is ready to quit as BCB boss and it is likely to be the case when the BCB board of directors sit for the meeting scheduled at the Youth and Sports Ministry today (Wednesday).
Nazmul called for the meeting that will be attended both virtually and physically, and he is expected to inform his decision of resignation to the directors.
BCB also needs to address certain issues to get everything in order, considering that their tournament committee chairman Sazzadul Alam has expressed his displeasure at not receiving any notice to attend the next board of directors meeting, because he hadn't yet resigned from his post.
The online sports portal earlier reported that Sazzadul is not ready to resign like the way Jalal Yunus did and said that he was waiting for a decision in this regard from the National Sports Council as they were nominated as board directors through them.
"I have not resigned (from BCB) and as I understand my tenure runs till October 2025," Sazzadul told the online sports portal on Tuesday.
"(Despite not resigning) I haven't received any notice from the board to attend the board meeting," he said.
The constitution allows NSC to have five councilors on the board, with the authority to appoint two of them as directors in the 25-member board of directors. It is understood that the BCB is in communication with the NSC to manage the board, and according to their guidelines, it is expected that the NSC-appointed directors will remain on the board.
However, it is not clearly mentioned in the constitution whether NSC can force any councilor to quit or not and furthermore whether it will be considered as inference of government or not. Another BCB director confirmed Cricbuzz that they have received a notification in their (BCB board directors) WhatsApp group regarding the board meeting in the Ministry. An employee of the board apparently sent him a picture of the notice letter in his WhatsApp number later to request him to be present in the meeting.
While neither BCB nor NSC is yet to clear their stance as far as directorship of Sazzadul is concerned, calling the board meeting in the ministry is surely something to ponder, considering the decision itself suggests that there can be some kind of government interference which forced BCB to call the meeting in ministry.
If that is the case, BCB might have to pay for it dearly as any kind of government interference in board matters might not go well with the governing body of the sport- International Cricket Council.