Chief selector Faruk Ahmed on Friday indicated that he might resign from his post if the recommendations of Bangladesh Cricket Board working committee to restructure the selection process are finally approved.
The working committee at a meeting proposed a complete revamp of the selection process which will increase the number of selectors to seven from the existing three.The committee will include four regular selectors, the national team coach, the manager and the chairman of cricket operations committee in the selection panel.
The captain of the team also may ex officio join the selection panel.
Under the new policy, the four-member selection panel will decide the squad before submitting it to the BCB’s cricket operation chairman for approval.
Thereafter, the cricket operation chairman will give it to the coach and the manager before forwarding it to the BCB president for the final approval. If there is any dispute regarding any player, the matter will be forwarded to the board of directors for resolution.
The BCB’s working committee chief Enayet Hossain, also a former chief selector, said that they had recommended the policy to avoid any controversy that often damages the team’s harmony.
Faruk said that he was unwilling to work under the proposed structure that he termed as top-heavy, which can complicate the issues to the disadvantage of the team in the long run.
‘I have to see exactly what they [BCB] want,’ said Faruk. ‘If this is what I have read in the media, I am not going to stay,’ said Fauk before heading for a meeting with the BCB high-ups on Friday evening.
Faruk questioned the need for the selection committee restructuring at a time when Bangladesh were doing well. He suspected vested interest playing behind the decision.
‘I don’t understand why we have to take this step,’ said the former national captain. ‘As I understand, we did a fairly good job and the team is in a good shape.
‘A step like this now forces me to think otherwise. Maybe, a non-cricketing reason is there behind this move. I am not too sure who the BCB wants to make happy.’
Though Faruk expressed his shock at the proposal, it did not come out of the blue. The working committee discussed the move at their first-ever meeting after the ICC World Twenty20 in April.
It was earlier reported that the move was taken to fulfill wish of the national team coach Chandika Hathurusinghe.
Hathurusinghe enjoys the blessings of the BCB’s influential quarter and his backers reportedly want him to have more authority in the team.
He was outvoted several times in recent selection meetings which he believed could have been avoided if there had been more selectors.
Some BCB directors argued that changing a structure for an individual could be unrewarding and thus preferred to include the national team manager into the selection panel.
The inclusion of the national team manager, a non-technical post, is rare if not completely unprecedented, said some independent analysts and Faruk was quick to agree.
‘I don’t have any problems with the coach. There could always be disagreement but that cannot lead us to change the entire policy,’ he said. ‘I have handled a number of coaches. It was tougher to convince some others but that did not create any problems.
‘I don’t know why the manager also has to be on the selection committee. His role is still unclear to me. Our current manager [Khaled Mahmud] is a board director but the selectors are paid employees. The employer and employee cannot, as I understand, work together. It would certainly create some problems because the employer will always try to dominate in the process.’
-With New Age input
