Tamim Iqbal has promised to put cricket above all else as he begins his four-year term as Bangladesh Cricket Board president, responding directly to the criticism and controversy that surrounded the election by pledging full transparency and accountability.
“Many people are putting many kinds of labels on us,” he said at a post-election press conference on 7 June at Mirpur’s Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium. “Let’s see if I can turn the Baper Doa (a term meaning ‘father’s blessing’, used mockingly in parliament to suggest the BCB operates as a personal domain of the powerful) into cricket’s blessing.”
Tamim, who won 73 of 74 votes to top the club category poll before being confirmed as the board’s 17th president by the newly elected directors, was candid about the scale of the task ahead. “The damage done to Bangladesh cricket’s reputation over the last year and a half cannot be fixed by me alone,” he said. “I will need the support of everyone. We will make mistakes. We will learn from them and do better. But nothing will be placed above cricket.”
He declined to point fingers at individuals for the recent turbulence, but acknowledged the problems plainly. “I will not blame anyone for what has happened. But what has happened must be acknowledged.”
The new president also explained his decision to appoint only one vice-president, Fahim Sinha, despite the BCB constitution allowing for two. Past experience had shown that dual vice-presidents often bred internal rivalry and conflict, he said, adding that a second could be appointed in future if necessary.
On the composition of the new board, Tamim pushed back against suggestions that the election lacked genuine competition. “One candidate missed out by a single vote,” he said. “I was repeatedly asked to announce a panel, but doing so would have made it a one-sided election. There were 16 candidates. I wanted to give everyone an equal chance.”
Among those elected in the club category are sons of prominent political figures: Saeid Ibrahim, son of Home Minister Salauddin Ahmed; Ishrafil Khosru, son of Finance Minister Amir Khosru; and Mirza Yasir, son of political adviser Mirza Abbas. The presence of ministers’ sons on the board is likely to draw continued scrutiny, though Tamim was direct in his response: “Whatever a person’s background, what matters to me is their intention. Cricket will not be compromised.”
Tamim had been running the BCB in an interim capacity since 7 April, when the previous board headed by Aminul Islam Bulbul was dissolved and he was appointed head of an ad hoc committee. This is the second BCB election within eight months, the first having been held last October. He now carries a formal mandate for the first time, and with it the weight of expectation from a cricket public that has grown weary of administrative disorder.
“Everything I do, you will know about it,” he said. “I consider you all a major part of cricket’s ecosystem.”
