Requesting an interim board appointment, Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud meets with BCB officials

Bangladesh Cricket Board has been instructed to investigate if it may nominate an interim head under the ICC structure, according to Asif Mahmud, the interim government of Bangladesh’s advisor on youth and sports, who made this announcement on Sunday. Before releasing the information to the public, Asif, who made his first visit to the office since assuming the role of advisor, met with seven BCB representatives.

Since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina left the nation on August 5, BCB president Nazmul Hasan and a few other board members have gone AWOL. An ad hoc committee might be appointed by the interim government to oversee the BCB, and it is anticipated that the ICC will recognise such a body—especially in the event of later elections and provided that there is no direct intervention from the government. Due to government meddling in the organization’s operations, the ICC has earlier suspended Sri Lanka Cricket, extending its suspension from November 2023 to January 2024.

The Nazmul-led group, which has controlled the Bangladesh Cricket Board for almost 14 years, is still in charge since they have not given up their positions. But, given that a number of the directors left the nation because of their political beliefs, their resignations are expected in the next few days.

It is unclear if the BCB will choose to continue with the current board or form an ad hoc committee to oversee the upcoming election. Furthermore, it remains to be seen if the positions left vacant by the resignation of the Board of Directors are filled by holding elections to select new candidates for the Director position. Nonetheless, before taking any action, they want to be sure they won’t face any penalties from the ICC for having government meddling on their board.

“There’s a missing BCB president. Of course, a federation needs to function properly for all of its organs to do so. The President is not present, and he bears a big responsibility. However, BCB is an independent federation, thus we are unable to make decisions for them. Asif told reporters on Sunday at the secretariat, “We may provide and accept suggestions from BCB.

In light of the political upheaval in the nation, Asif Mahmud also stated that he will confer with Professor Yunus, the acting head, to determine the best course of action for hosting the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

Our recommendation is that the BCB directors investigate ways to address the matter within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. If they decide to name someone for a temporary position, they will report back to us. We’ll carry on with the procedure in this regard,” he declared.

“We must adhere to procedure even though we wish to make the necessary adjustments. Instead of trying to reform the individual, we want to alter the system so that corruption cannot reappear for anyone who enters by abiding by it. We also want to take action to create a long-lasting fix,” the speaker stated.

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“We will confer with the United Nations regarding travel restrictions for certain countries. We will discuss these matters with Professor Yunus. There are certain concerns about infrastructure and security. As a sports enthusiast, he (Yunus) hopes to settle the dispute “said Yunus.