Bangladesh Cricket Board should reconsider their stand on ICC revamp

CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH – MARCH 11: Bangladesh supporters look on during the 2011 ICC World Cup Group B match between Bangladesh and England at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on March 11, 2011 in Chittagong, Bangladesh. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

Cricket keeps Bangladesh united. Cricket is the pride of Bangladesh. For a nation who are hungry for success and most of the time remains doleful by the whimsical acts of their politicians, cricket gifts them peace of mind and moments to rejoice amid our political circus shows. Cricket is the life of Bangladesh.

But sadly, pretty soon, Bangladesh cricket will be devoured by the prophets of doom and gloom. The joy and ecstasy of the Bangladeshi fans will get lost. The future of Bangladesh cricket looks bleak.

The ICC have planned to revamp themselves and will unleash a proposal in a meeting which will be held on January 28 and 29 in Dubai. The key aspects of that proposal by India, England and Australia would be: cricket will be divided into two tiers with the top eight nations forming the top tier and the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe relegated to playing the Intercontinental Cup with Associate Member nations; India, England and Australia as the financial heavyweights will be exempt from relegation; and key positions in the ICC – ICC chairman, chairmen of ExCo and finance & commercial affairs committee – will be nominees of the BCCI-CA-ECB.

If this proposal gets accepted at the ICC meeting, then Bangladesh will not play Test cricket for eight years. After eight years of playing 4-day cricket at the Intercontinental Cup against the Associate Nations and if they finish on top of the 8-team ranking field then they will play the bottom-ranked team of the top tier in Tests for a chance at a promotion. If India, England and Australia form the three lowest teams in the top tier, then Bangladesh will have to face the fifth-ranked side.

After playing Test cricket for more than a decade and have come to terms with the intricacies of Test cricket one cannot expect his team to get relegated and play 4-day matches against Associate nations like the Netherlands, Ireland or Afghanistan and then qualify to play Test cricket against the top teams after almost eight years. I agree that over the last 14 years Bangladesh’s Test success haven’t been impressive, but one can’t deny that their improvement in Test cricket in recent times. The Tigers fared well in Sri Lanka and New Zealand and cricketers like Mominul Haque, Sohag Gazi, Nasir Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal’s performances have been highly satisfactory.

In Test cricket, Bangladesh are improving slowly but steadily and for which does they deserve to be relegated? What about those nations whose overwhelming successes have been only on their own home soil and pathetic outside own backyard? Don’t they deserve to face relegations after continuous humiliation outside their own backyard?

Even if you talk about cricket’s financial benefits, then, I must say that, Bangladesh can also contribute financially as because cricket has a huge appeal here and can provide effective eyeballs more than New Zealand or West Indies. If one continues to ignore Bangladesh only by tagging them as minnows then how can they progress? How can you accept good results from an ever improving side who are always denied to play against the top sides of world cricket? Again, a team can only improve by playing against the better sides. Relegations won’t do anything good for them.

Already Cricket Boards like South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have opposed against this proposal and the cricket fans here in Bangladesh had also expected the same approach from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). But it was not to be.

To the astonishment of all the cricket fans, the BCB chief Mr. Nazmul Hassan Papon has dented their hopes. Yesterday, in a BCB meeting regarding this proposal by the ICC, the BCB directors voted 20-3 in favour of the proposal which had been a shocker! The BCB directors had three former cricketers who also didn’t oppose against such a vindictive proposal.

According to those twenty directors of BCB, the BCB will be financially benefited if they say ‘Yes’ to this proposal. They sounded more like a greedy businessman rather than the guardian of Bangladesh cricket. How can a Cricket Board think only about cash and not his country’s cricketing future?

A Cricket Board is the guardian of cricket of a country. Mr. Nazmul Hassan has been very impressive since he took over as the BCB chief, but his yesterday’s remarks about the ICC’s proposals have dented his self-respect. The Bangladesh cricket fans expected Mr. Papon to be a messiah, but he turned out to be the wrecker in chief of Bangladesh cricket’s Test future.

The pocket of BCB will become heavier at the cost of Bangladesh’s Test future. But what will BCB do with those money if our boys don’t even get a chance The BCB thought about its own benefits and not about that fan who sits all day and night in the stadium to relish a Bangladesh victory. They didn’t bother to think about that young boy who buys a cricket bat and ball to become a Test cricketer. They had totally ignored the tears of those fans whose heartbeat is the Bangladesh cricket team.

Bangladesh cricket’s Test future is at stake. The BCB still haven’t expressed their opinion in the upcoming ICC meeting in Dubai next week. The relegation issue is our headache and not South Africa, Pakistan or Sri Lanka’s. In that sense, the BCB must be very intelligent and diplomatic regarding their approach. The BCB should reconsider their stand on ICC revamp.