Following the political shift in Bangladesh in August last year, former selector Faruque Ahmed was appointed as the new president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). His tenure, however, proved to be short-lived. In May this year, he was replaced by former national captain Aminul Islam Bulbul.
Speaking on the programme Thikana with Khaled Mohiuddin, sports adviser Asif Mahmud explained why Faruque was removed.
“We brought Faruque bhai into cricket. After discussions with stakeholders, he was appointed as a director under the National Sports Council quota, and later he was elected as BCB president,” Mahmud said. “There are nine other directors on the board, and eight of them complained to the ministry that Faruque Ahmed was acting arbitrarily, not following the constitution. You saw what happened during the last BPL.”
Mahmud revealed that the ministry formed an inquiry committee into the BPL, and its report played a decisive role in Faruque’s removal. “The ministry had warned that the franchises from Rajshahi and Chattogram were not capable of managing teams properly. In the end, that is what happened. They failed to pay both local and foreign players. Our reputation suffered at home and abroad. Would you not call that a failure?”
The adviser further alleged that Faruque’s priorities were misplaced. “Bangladesh cricket was in continuous decline, and I saw that he was more focused on securing clubs ahead of the next BCB election and on business interests rather than cricket,” Mahmud said.
According to Mahmud, the decision was made in line with regulations. “We did nothing outside the constitution. The ministry can withdraw an NSC nomination, and that is what we did. We nominated someone else, and he is now the BCB president.”