Facilities better than WI, SL: Papon
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon said that the board have been providing better facilities to the players compared to countries like the West Indies, Zimbabwe and even Sri Lanka.
The BCB boss made the comments after an emergency board meeting yesterday at its headquarters at Mirpur, where they discussed the ongoing ICC World Twenty20, the domestic calendar, Bangladesh's performance and of course the disciplinary issues surrounding all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
“Compared to West Indies, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, we are providing better facilities for the players. The state of facilities cannot dictate your willingness to play for your country. And when you wear the national jersey, it has to come from your hearts. We lost but supporters continued their support; you cannot expect more. How can love be a pressure I cannot understand. We have always learnt about home advantage but this kind of talk (pressure of playing in front of home fans) I heard for the first time,” said Papon in regards to recent comments from Shakib.
He said that they had not discussed much on Shakib as they had to wait for his response to a show-cause issued by the board yesterday, the last date of giving it. Following his response the disciplinary committee will make recommendations and a decision will be made in the next board meeting after Papon's return from the ICC meeting starting from April 7.
“As far as we know it's a clear violation of the code of conduct but we have to wait for his response. Within one week we will discuss the disciplinary committee recommendation,” said Papon.
Once again he mentioned the possibility of changes in the team management and in the team itself but did not make it clear what direction that may take. “We need some new players, we have some weak points. We have to check our options and should check our available talent,” he said.
Papon however said that Bangladesh does not have the kind of skill to compete with teams like India, West Indies, Pakistan and Australia in the newest format of the game.
“We were in fire fighting mode since taking charge but we desperately need a long-term plan to improve our cricket. In the next board meeting we will prepare a four-year plan with a projection of where we want to see our cricket,” promised Papon.
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