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Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan has said that despite the Covid-19 situation, BCB is still in a comfortable financial position compared to many other cricket boards who have struggled in this period.
The BCB held their Annual General Meeting at a city hotel on Thursday, where the organisation passed their financial reports for the last three fiscal years.
Nazmul, in the media briefing session after the AGM, said that they have made significant financial growth in the last three years.
“The cricket boards of big countries have been severely hit by the Covid-19 situation, they are either taking or asking for loans from ICC. From 2012 to 2018, our total revenue generation from sponsorship and other rights was little more than $33 million. But in the last three years, we have raised $29 million, so we raised that amount in almost three years despite the covid situation. This clearly shows the ongoing support and trust that Bangladesh cricket have of the sponsors, which is very important,” said the BCB president.
More than 120 BCB councillors attended the AGM where they raised various issues, like launching a pension scheme for the players, and the BCB president said that the notion will be taken into consideration in the next board meeting.
While evaluating the success and failures of the BCB in the past three years, the BCB president brought forward the rise of young talents and replacement cricketers, while he expressed his inability to properly nurture the Under-19 World Cup champions as a failure.
“Due to the Covid-19 situation, we could not work with the U-19 team like the way we did for the previous batch. The last batch played more than 30 matches at home and abroad, we had a very well sketched plan. But we are not being able to do the same for the new batch for the Covid situation. We also planned to work with the World Cup-winning youth team for a year and a half more but we could not do that due to covid,’’ said Nazmul.
BCB president also said that the board is willing to purchase lands for making cricket grounds.
“We are looking for lands to buy where we can make grounds so that kids can play. We are not talking about stadiums because those are kept under lock and key. We want to make open fields where kids can play, where we can set up cricket pitches, and the game will be played around the year,” he said.
Many teams are opting for two separate teams for two versions of the game, and Nazmul said that after the T20 World Cup, Bangladesh might also take the same path.
“We are planning for two national teams. We will form it very quickly; we just need some time. Pakistan is coming in the future, next will be the New Zealand series. Hopefully, we can field two teams at that time,” said the BCB President.
