Papon given BCB reins

Nazmul Hassan Papon has been appointed the new president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
Papon, the ruling party parliament member and son of President Zillur Rahman, replaced AHM Mustafa Kamal, who has recently been nominated as the International Cricket Council (ICC) vice-president.
Kamal will formally hand over charge to the new board president, who is due to return this afternoon from Kuwait, at the BCB headquarters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur tomorrow at 11am.
"He (Nazmul Hassan) is a proven administrator and more importantly, a man of cricket. I am confident that under his able leadership Bangladesh cricket will only move forward and reach the standards desired by the country's 16 crore people. On behalf of the board I wish him success and assure him of every cooperation," said Kamal while congratulating his successor.
Ever since Kamal was elevated to ICC's prestigious post, the point of interest in everyone's mind surrounded the identity of his successor at the BCB. Initially the name of former BCB president Saber Hossain Chowdhury was doing the rounds but following Papon's expression, two days ago, of his wish to run for the presidential post it became clear that he was most likely to take the hot seat. And yesterday's government announcement put an end to all the speculation about who would head the richest sports body in the country.
Nazmul Hassan Papon is the 14th president of the BCB and seventh after since Bangladesh's elevation to Test status in 2000.
Born on May 31, 1961, Papon has been involved with popular club Abahani Limited for nearly a decade, and since 2008 he has served as the chairman of this club's cricket committee, besides also being an accomplished administrator. Papon, who completed his MBA from Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dhaka University, is the managing director of both Beximco Pharmaceutical Limited and Shinepukur Ceramics Limited and a director of Beximco Group, a business conglomerate in the country.
Abahani's cricket committee also extended their congratulations to the new BCB president.
Papon has taken the helm at a crucial stage as he will have to address a number of issues immediately. Uncertainty regarding the national team's head coach Richard Pybus, the responsibility of selling BCB's worldwide media rights -- the board's major source of income, arranging the franchisee-based first-class competition, solving the spot-fixing controversy and financial problems surrounding the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 are some of the major concerns facing the new BCB supremo.
Another crucial thing on his plate is the next BCB elections. The current committee took charge on November 28 in 2008, so their tenure will expire by November 28 this year, in which case the authorities have very little time to start the election process.
The main question surrounding the elections is whether it will be held on time, and if held on time whether it will take place under the amended or the existing constitution.
In line with the guidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC), BCB brought changes to the constitution to the effect that the post of president will have to be democratically contested but the amended constitution is yet to be vetted by the National Sports Council (NSC).