Follow UsThe Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is facing a barrage of questions from right, left and centre regarding the election of the new president of the organisation. But none have been more pertinent than the ones raised by Tamim Iqbal.
The former Bangladesh skipper and highest run getter for the country in ODIs and second-highest overall, said that election fixing by those in power needs to be stopped to rightly serve Bangladesh cricket and its huge fan base.
Tamim, who had previously registered his name for one of the Board of Directors’ posts, withdrew from the election totally and blamed the board for it. He was one of the 16 candidates that withdrew their candidature right before the elections.
“(Match) fixing is often talked about quite loudly, but it is the election fixing that needs to be stopped first. I think it is crystal clear to everyone who was involved, at what time, what kind of involvement they had, what kind of interference occurred, and how the rules were changed at will for convenience,” Tamim said, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“I will end my speech by saying that this election has become a black mark for the Bangladesh Cricket Board,” added the man with the most number of international centuries for the country in their history of cricket so far.
Lambasting the current leadership of the BCB, which came to the fore after the elected members of the previous regime fled the country during the bloody student revolution, Tamim said that the reason for withdrawal of the nominations was quite clear.
"At least 14 or 15 of us have withdrawn our nominations today. The reason for this withdrawal is very clear. Whatever they want to do is being done. This is not really an election. This is not an election, and this doesn't suit cricket in any way.”
"A lot has been said at different times, but at the end of the day, I feel that we cannot be a part of this. I always say one thing: cricket, Bangladesh cricket does not deserve this, and the cricket fans of Bangladesh do not deserve this either,” added the 36-year-old.
The BCB is holding elections for the post of 25 Board of Directors, who in turn will elect the President of the Board of Directors, who will also be called the BCB President. The current position is held by Aminul Islam Bulbul in an interim capacity till the elections are completed.
Out of 25, 23 will be elected and two will be chosen by the interim Bangladesh government as their representatives. So far, six of the 23 have already been elected unopposed. They are - Barishal (Shakhawat Hossain), Sylhet (Rahat Shams), Chattogram (Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury and Asif Akbar) and Khulna (Abdur Razzak and Julfikar Ali Khan).