BCB director belittles Bangladeshi cricketer’s achievements

Sports Desk

BCB director Nazmul Islam, who came into the limelight after calling Tamim Iqbal a ‘tested Indian broker’, has now attacked cricketers. He mocked cricketers for not being able to win anything big and said that if BCB does not participate in the World Cup, it will be the cricketers who will suffer.

After dropping Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL, the BCB announced its decision not to play the World Cup in India. They called on the ICC to shift the venue to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns.

The World Cup issue is still hanging. Meanwhile, the Cricketers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) has said that the Bangladesh team should play in the World Cup for the sake of the country’s cricket. According to analysts, if the ICC does not change the venue and the BCB does not play in India, the board will face a huge financial loss. Even if the venue is changed, if India does not tour Bangladesh in the future, there will be a financial crisis, which may also create uncertainty in organizing multinational events.

Responding to questions from journalists at the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Mirpur this evening (Wednesday), Nazmul said, “The Bangladesh Cricket Board will not suffer any loss, the cricketers will suffer. If the cricketers play, they get match fees in every match. Besides, they get what they are entitled to as per the ICC rules for man of the match or special performance. That is solely the players’ due, the board has no involvement in it. In other words, the board has no profit or loss here, at least for this World Cup.”

But the reality is that the BCB runs on the basis of the performance of the cricketers. A large part of the prize money and revenue received from the ICC goes to the BCB’s fund.
When asked whether the BCB is responsible if the cricketers face losses, Nazmul questioned the achievements of the cricketers. He said, “Why? If they cannot do anything, then are we demanding that money back from them for spending so many crores of taka on them? Answer me this question.”

Claiming that the investment in cricketers is largely ‘fruitless’, he further said, “We are spending so much on them, but they are not able to do anything in different places. Have we received a single global trophy or award till date? We can then say every time that you could not play, return the money we spent on you.”
BCB Finance Committee Chairman Nazmul said regarding the confusion created over the revenue received from the ICC, “Many are spreading confusion about financial matters. Some say that we get $27 million from the ICC, which is not correct. We get $20.4 million every year. In addition, there is a reserve of $4 million with the ICC. After three-four years, after various adjustments, they reimburse it. This is not just for us, the rules are the same for every country. Except for this $4 million, the BCB gets the rest from the ICC.”