Will Kamal episode affect BCB?
How will AHM Mustafa Kamal's dicey relationship with the ICC chairman affect the Bangladesh Cricket Board? This was a question that was on everyone's mind when Kamal, while announcing his resignation, openly criticised the ICC top brass.
While he was cautious enough not to name the ICC chairman, Narayanaswamy Srinivasan, during his bouts—he instead preferred to address a 'person' or the 'man' behind it all – it was quite clear to all as to who Kamal referred to as the person who 'reeked' or the man who had an 'ugly mindset'.
And so the eventual question did come about. Would his statements affect Bangladesh's international fixture? The Tigers after all are expected to spend a busy 2015 with games against Pakistan, India, South Africa and Australia. “Why would it?” Kamal retorted. “No such thing would happen,” he added.
The BCB is yet to release an official statement with regards to Kamal's resignation. The directors are waiting to discuss the issue with the BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon, who returned to Dhaka at 11 pm last night. Their individual opinions though reflect a mixed opinion. “Why should his resignation affect our relationship at all? We had made our complaint to the ICC with regards to the umpiring issue right after the match. And the issue was handled properly over there. This won't affect our series' or the Future Tours Programme,” a director said preferring not to be named.
There, however, also have been talks about how the 'Kamal episode' could prove to be a backlash for the BCB. “There is a way to address these issues. Even we have argued with Indian officials in the past. But there is a procedure to do that,” said another director.
Regardless of the end result, the one thing that the BCB could be lauded for is the way it handled this issue. Kamal's outburst has every chance of putting the BCB in an uncomfortable position. While he had every right to protest the controversial moments during the Bangladesh-India quarterfinal; it was the manner in which he stated those issues that created the problems.
One would feel that Kamal crossed the line when he said that 'it seemed as though the umpires had an agenda on the field.' It was a scathing allegation.
On the contrary, the statements provided by both Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and the BCB president were full of substance and wisdom.
“You all saw what happened out there, there's no point speaking about it. I don't want to talk about it,” was what skipper Mashrafe said. While he may not have used as many tough words as Kamal, it was enough to prove his discontentment.
The BCB president said that they would file a complaint and so they did. And as the BCB's CEO, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, put it earlier this week, they believe that the ICC had heard their complaints successfully. Nizamuddin, however, did not elaborate much on why he believed that the BCB were successful. However, it is understood that their complaint might have had something to do with the fact that one of the more experienced ICC umpires Aleem Dar, who had called the no-ball against Rubel Hossain, did not get a knock-out game after the Bangladesh-India quarterfinal.
With Kamal having resigned and the next ICC board meeting scheduled in mid-April an interesting few weeks lie ahead.
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