Where’s Bangladesh cricket heading? BCB reinstates controversial official Najmul Islam

Bangladesh cricket seems to be going from bad to worse. Days after the ICC replaced them with Scotland for the T20 World Cup for refusing to travel to host country India, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has reinstated the controversial finance committee chairman M. Najmul Islam to his original post.

Heightened political tensions between India and Bangladesh had led to the ouster of pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL, which was followed by Bangladesh national team refusing to travel to India because of safety concerns. There were reports that several Bangladesh players were open to playing in India, which is co-hosting the tournament with Sri Lanka, but had to toe the government line.

The development came days after the players’ boycott of Bangladesh Premier League over Najmul Islam’s remarks. Former Bangladesh skipper and veteran player Tamim Iqbal had earlier suggested that the BCB should use diplomacy to resolve the standoff with the ICC and BCCI over the T20 World Cup. In response, Islam called Iqbal an “Indian agent”, and added that the players would not be compensated if Bangladesh decide to pull out of the tournament. He also added that the Board should be demanding the spent on the cricketers back, since they have not yet won an ICC tournament.

On January 15, the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB), led by senior players like Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, launched a boycott from all forms of cricket, calling for Islam’s resignation. With players refusing to take the field for the BPL and the league being halted for a day consequently, the BCB was forced to sack Islam and issue him a show-cause notice.

However, on January 25, two days after the BPL final—Rajshahi Warriors clinched the title defeating the Chattogram Royals by 63 runs—the BCB reinstated Islam to his position. The board’s disciplinary committee said they found his late response to the show-cause notice "satisfactory". Islam also did not apologise as the players had demanded.

Bangladesh’s The Daily Star quoted a senior player as saying, “Please save cricket, that’s all there is to say”, highlighting the state of affairs in the sport in the country. In fact, during a board meeting on January 24, Islam enjoyed the support of board directors when the decision to reinstate him was taken.

CWAB president Mohammad Mithun told The Daily Star yesterday: “We made our demands known openly and they made commitments openly. So who is not keeping the commitments should be clear. The responsibility also lies with those who are not keeping commitments.”