Former national cricketer Aminul Islam Bulbul has been elected as the new president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Friday (May 30). He was elected as the 16th president of the BCB in a crucial meeting, held on Friday at the BCB headquarter at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
BCB director Iftikhar Rahman Mithu informed the outcome of the meeting during a press conference. Like his predecessors Nazmul Hassan Papon and Faruque Ahmed, he too was elected unopposed. Earlier, the National Sports Council (NSC) nominated him as their director. At the same meeting, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim and Fahim Sinha were elected as vice-presidents, Mithu informed.
Popularly known as Bulbul, Aminul’s name was etched in country’s cricket folklore for being the ‘maiden Test centurion’. He hit that century in his debut Test against India in 2000, which was also Bangladesh’s maiden Test. He has played for the national team for more than a decade.
Wearing national jersey, he played 13 Tests and 39 ODIs. After saying goodbye to international cricket in 2002, he started coaching in the country. Later, he settled down with his family in Australia.
Aminul has held various positions in the ICC and ACC for more than a decade. Until joining the BCB, he served as the ICC’s development manager for the Asia region. Apart from this, he is also the head of the ICC’s High Performance program and training education. His contract as the ICC’s development manager will expire next month.
On May 29, the National Sports Council (NSC) revoked the appointment of Faruque Ahmed as a government-nominated councillor to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). In an official letter, the NSC cited Section 13.2 (b)(4) of its Act to justify the cancellation of Faruque’s position within the BCB.
The decision came after a group of BCB directors sought an immediate removal of the BCB president Faruque Ahmed by submitting a formal no-confidence letter to the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The NSC stated that a total of eight directors – now constituting the majority of the board – had sought his removal.
The directors accused Faruque of autocratic leadership, constitutional violations, financial mismanagement, and links to controversial individuals. In the letter, the directors alleged that Faruque Ahmed had consistently bypassed board members and violated the BCB constitution in key administrative and financial matters.