Faruque Ahmed has been elected the BCB president after a board meeting in Dhaka on Wednesday following Nazmul Hassan's resignation. Faruque is the first BCB president to have played any competitive cricket. He played seven ODIs between 1988 and 1999 and led Bangladesh in the ICC Trophy in 1994.
Faruque joined the BCB directors' meeting after the National Sports Council (NSC) nominated him and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim as their directors in the board.
The NSC had replaced their incumbent directors Jalal Yunus and Ahmed Sajjadul Alam with Fahim and Faruque; Yunus resigned on Monday but Alam didn't resign, asking the NSC to take their due course of action.
The BCB meeting, held at the NSC office, was attended by directors Mahbubul Anam, Khaled Mahmud, Akram Khan, Salauddin Ahmed, Kazi Inam Ahmed, Iftekhar Ahmed and Fahim Sinha. The other 16 directors, including Hassan, have been missing from Dhaka since the Awami Leauge government fell on August 5.
During the meeting, Fahim was inducted as the second NSC-nominated director. After that, one of the BCB's signatories was changed from Ismail Haider Mallick to Fahim Sinha. Mallick was considered Hassan's closest ally in the board, and the most powerful director. He was the finance committee chair, marketing committee vice-chair, and secretary of the BPL governing council. Mallick is one of 16 board directors missing from Dhaka.
The directors were also informed about the change of venue for the Women's T20 World Cup from Bangladesh to the UAE, but the BCB remains the hosts of the tournament.
BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury informed the attendees that Hassan had officially resigned from his position as president. Shortly afterwards, the present directors unanimously elected Faruque as the new chief.
After his playing days, Faruque served two terms as chief selector. He was in charge from 2003 to 2007. He was credited for ushering in a new era in Bangladesh cricket, giving breaks to Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, among other young players. He returned as chief selector in 2013 but resigned in 2016 when Hassan decided to expand the selection panel to include coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and Bangladesh team manager Khaled Mahmud in the selection panel.
Hassan, who has also been the country's sports minister since this January, was one of the several board officials who had direct political connections with the Awami League. Hassan has been a member of parliament since 2009.
Among the 16 board directors missing, Shafiul Alam was a serving Awami League MP, Naimur Rahman was a former MP, and AJM Nasir Uddin was Chattogram's mayor. Two of the board directors, Najib Ahmed and Sheikh Sohel, are cousins of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hassan took office as the BCB chief in 2012 after AHM Mustafa Kamal left the role to take the ICC vice-president's post. A year later, he became the BCB's first elected president after The board amended its constitution following a Supreme Court ruling, paving the way for the president to be elected by the board of directors. Previously, the government appointed the BCB president.
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