Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
Aminul Islam has been re-elected as the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board following the board of directors’ elections that took place at a city hotel in Dhaka on Monday.
Faruque Ahmed, a former board president himself, along with Shakhawat Hossain, has been chosen as the new vice-presidents.
Aminul, Faruque, and Shakhawat were all elected without any opposition since there were no other candidates vying for the same positions among the 25 elected directors on that day. The new board kicked off its first meeting on Monday and will keep the discussions going today.
After the Awami League government was ousted in August last year, many of the BCB’s board directors went into hiding. Now, the governing body of the country’s cricket has a fully operational board in place.
‘I have taken this as a part of my journey. I have fallen in love with Bangladesh’s cricket development. I came for a short term; that was the plan all along,’ Aminul told reporters after being elected as the president.
‘But when we started to do little things and saw success, then I didn’t think otherwise. I stayed with that aim, to serve more for my country,’ he added.
Aminul also urged everyone to come forward to work together.
‘I will urge everyone who is and isn’t on the board to work for Bangladesh cricket and help us. There might be controversy in every sector, in every place, and in every country. But we were within the constitution,’ he said.
‘Even today, I have said that those who couldn’t come [to the board] will be approached to help us. Bangladesh is for all. The election is just a little process. We will try to approach everyone and work together to move Bangladesh cricket ahead,’ he added.
Aminul, who has represented Bangladesh in 13 Tests and 39 ODIs, was officially named the 20th president of the board at around 8:15 PM by chief election commissioner Mohammad Hossain.
He first stepped into this role back in May after the previous president, Faruque, was ousted following a no-confidence vote from eight out of nine BCB directors, who found it tough to work under his leadership.
Interestingly, Faruque will now serve as one of the deputies on Aminul’s board. In other news, Shakhwat was elected as a director unopposed from Barishal.
Faruque said that it wouldn’t be any problem for them to work with one another.
‘As the goal is the same, we should overcome the little goals to move the country’s cricket towards a bigger one,’ he said.
Monday’s voting wrapped up a contentious election marked by boycotts and allegations of interference from both the board and the ministry of youth and sports.
Several candidates, particularly from Category Two, including former national team captain Tamim Iqbal, pulled out of the race, claiming it was a ‘fixed election.’
Even on Monday, shortly after signing the result sheet, Debabarata Paul, one of the two candidates from Category Three, asserted that the election was ‘heavily influenced,’ though he didn’t provide any further specifics.
Nonetheless, Aminul and the election commission pushed back against those allegations.
