We have a shameless cricket board: Saber Hossain

Cricket officials are blaming the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for the side’s unfortunate collapse in the ongoing T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Tigers returned home with empty-handed on Friday (November 5) as they lost in all five matches of Super-12 phase in the competition.

For such a disappointing performance of Bangladesh team, Former BCB President Saber Hossain Chowdhury has termed the board chief Nazmul Hasan Papon as incompetent, saying ‘a shameless cricket board is functioning under him’.

Nazmul Hasan Papon took over as BCB president in October 2012 with nomination of the government. He was elected uncontested in another October election a year later. Although two elections were held in the next eight years, Nazmul Hasan remained the BCB president. Under him, Bangladesh played 2014, 2016 and 2021 T20 World Cups and 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups.

Although Bangladesh played in the quarter finals of the 2015 ODI World Cup, the performance in all the other tournaments was disappointing. However, the Tigers played in the semifinals of the 2017 Champions Trophy. Saber Hossain Chowdhury has blamed the cricket board for the decline in Bangladesh’s performance index on the global stage.

Strong criticism is coming from various quarters. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who served as BCB president from 1996 to 2001, has joined the list this time. 

He posted on Twitter, “Bangladesh has now played 4 World Cups under Mr Papon, things have gone bad to worse. Longest serving President has also been the most incompetent. It’s always someone else’s fault as he has run our cricket to the ground. Shame that we have a shameless @BCBtigers.”

Saber Hossain criticizes the board at various times. He often talks about the recruitment, performance and capabilities of the coaching staff. He also criticized Mashrafe’s retirement and the professionalism of the board. This time, after the side’s poor performance in the T20 World Cup, he vented all his anger on BCB.