Dhaka, June 7 (IANS) Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal has been elected president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, promising greater transparency, improved facilities and a restoration of Bangladesh cricket’s reputation after a turbulent period for the sport in the country.
The 36-year-old-the only candidate in Sunday’s elections in Dhaka-will serve a four-year term, having already spent the last two months running the board’s interim committee.
Tamim, after being elected, insisted it was a huge responsibility rather than an personal honour. “There is no extra feeling that I have become something really big. It is a massive responsibility. I have spoken about so many things about the cricket board for the last few years, so now I feel that this is the time when I have to prove myself to everyone.”
The elections were held at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, following the Bangladesh government’s decision in April to dissolve the previous board run by Aminul Islam and hold fresh polls under the interim administration. In total, 23 directors were elected via physical and electronic voting under three categories and two representatives, appointed by the government, later joined the board to make it a 25-member governing body. Tamim was one of 12 directors who got elected in the Dhaka clubs category before being unanimously picked to serve as board president by the new council. One of the vice-presidents is Fahim Sinha and the second is yet to be named. Among the top priorities for Tamim is a modern High Performance Centre, which the new BCB president called his biggest aspiration.
“The High Performance Center is probably my biggest dream,” Tamim said. “I hope that I can fulfill this dream. We will need big support from the government. Initially the BCB can fund this center. We have asked the company that designed the existing centre for a re-design. “We hope that we can start the center in Purbachal. As you can imagine, such a large-scale project requires a lot of money. We will definitely seek the government’s support in that regard. I have met the country’s finance minister about it, he was very positive about the project so now we have to apply to the government.” The center would represent a massive upgrade on the existing High Performance Centre which is situated at the Shere Bangla National Stadium complex, but is considered limited.
Tamim also vowed to restore the country’s cricketing image following a turbulent period involving controversial decisions which led to the national team not participating in the T20 World Cup, and disputes involving the media. “The players need to be respected as much as possible – not just current cricketers, but former cricketers too,” Tamim said. “Every stakeholder in Bangladesh cricket will be respected. It was maybe lacking in the BCB in the last one and a half years. We have to come together and fix this damaged reputation of Bangladesh cricket.”
Tamim also addressed the issue of transparency and accountability, acknowledging the recent scrutiny of the BCB administration. “I want to ensure maximum transparency. I am sure that all of us at the board are not going to do anything controversial. We want to work with full honesty. “I am sure we will make mistakes, but I look forward to seeing how quickly we rectify those mistakes.”
Tamim is widely regarded as one of Bangladesh’s all-time greatest players, having played 391 international matches for his country and scored over 15,000 international runs across all three formats of the game. He captained the Bangladesh team 38 times and guided them to 21 wins, most notably an historic ODI series victory against South Africa in 2022. Tamim continued to play domestic cricket after retiring from international cricket at the beginning of 2025, before he suffered a heart attack during a Dhaka Premier League match which marked an end to his playing career.
–IANS
hs/
