Newly elected Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Faruque Ahmed said his first and foremost task would be to take the country’s cricket forward.
“The goal is big. We have to work together to take the country’s cricket forward,” he said this on Wednesday while addressing the media, reports BSS.
“We have to work in many areas. As you know the work has been done for a long time but there are many questions. We have to address those issues. We want to move forward as a country and as a cricketing nation. The task would be easier if we consider ourselves as a team and if we give our team a top priority without prioritising the individuals. Let’s not be diverted,” he added.
Faruque Ahmed is the first former cricketer to be elected as board president after Nazmul Hassan Papon stepped down from his post in an emergency meeting Wednesday.
Eight board directors were present in the meeting, held at the conference room of the Youth and Sports Ministry. Faruque Ahmed and Nazmul Abedin Fahim replaced Jalal Yunus and Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby as the NSC nominated directors for the Cricket Board.
As Papon resigned from his role, the directors who present in the meeting, exercised their vote to elect Faruque as the president as per BCB constitution.
Faruque, also a former skipper, who led the side in the ICC trophy in 1994, served BCB as the chief selector twice-firstly from 2003-2007. During his first tenure, he unleashed the cricketing talents like Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, who made Bangladesh cricket a giant.
He later served the board as chief selector again in 2013-2016 but resigned from his post after the then BCB president Papon formed a two-tier selection panel that gave the head coach Chandika Hathurusingha an unnecessary power to interfere in the selection process.
Faruque vowed that he will give everyone the freedom to work independently after his bitter experience on the board. But at the same time, he cautioned that everyone will be questionable for their work.
“I can assure you that I won’t interfere in anyone’s work. But everyone will be under tight scrutiny for what they have done. We will give everyone time for a bigger success but if not, the success comes, you have to be responsible for this. As a president I can give some suggestions but that’s not that the concerned person will have to value it,” he added.
“I want the cricket team to brighten the image of the country. Let’s not just stick with small things. We have to plan for a bigger goal. I can’t change everything overnight. I don't even know how long I will be here. But cricket will be my first priority.”
Faruque said he wants to build a system through which there will be no scope to do any corruption.
“I resigned from the BCB, protesting about the corrupted system. We’ll look after that but you can’t uproot the corruption practice overnight. We have to build a system, we have to execute a plan through which there will be no opportunity to do any corruption.”
Asked where he wants to see Bangladesh cricket as per ICC rankings, Faruque said, “As I said earlier, I want cricket to stand tall. It’s not that I will be happy with sudden success. If we play five tight matches and then win the sixth and seventh matches, I will consider it a success.”
