Nazmul Hassan Papon was elected the president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) today, just a day after he grabbed highest votes to be the director in the board of directors election.    After the election commission published the results officially today at the BCB's headquarters at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. AJM Nasir Uddin, a director from the Chattogram Division, proposed Papon's name as the president and his proposal was supported by two directors-Enayet Hossain Siraj and Gazi Golam Mortuza Pappa.    It was the third straight time, Papon was elected BCB president, while its his fourth term in BCB as its chief.    Nazmul Hassan Papon became the president of the country's most influential sporting body after being nominated by the government in 2012 when the then BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal became the ICC president. As ICC made it mandatory to elect president by an election for its all member countries, the BCB changed its constitution, paving the way of election in this post.    However, Papon became the first elected president in BCB's history in 2013 and then again was elected in 2017.   As per the constitution, 25-elected directors would elect a president amongst them. But in 2013 and 2017 election, Papon was elected unopposed. This is the first time, he had to contest in election but shined in impeccably, bagging highest 53 votes alongside Enayet Hossain Siraj and Gazi Golam Mortuza Pappa.    The councillors yesterday elected 12 directors from the Category-2 that involved Dhaka Metropolitan Clubs, including Papon, the councillor of Abahani Limited. The rest of the 11 elected directors are- Gazi Golam Mortuza Pappa, Enayet Hossain Siraj, Ismail Haider Mallick, Najib Ahmed, Obeid Rashid Nijam, Fahim Sinha, Iftekhar Rahman Mithu, Salahuddin Chowdhury, Manzur Kader, Mahbub Anam and Manzur Alam Manzu.        A total of 16 councillors contested in this category with Saiful Islam Bhuiyan, Rafiqul Islam, Abdur Rahman and Masuduzzman tasting the defeat.   The BCB also saw an election in Category-1 that included districts and divisions. Four contestants contested for the two director posts of Dhaka Division but Bangladesh's first Test captain Naimur Rahman Durjoy and Tanvir Ahmed Titu emerged as victorious, claiming identical 17 votes.   The rest of the two candidates Syed Ashfakul Islam Titu and Khalid Hossain withdrew their nomination, but they opted out of the election after the date of the withdrawal of nomination, their names were printed in the ballot paper.    Election was also held in Rajshahi division where former skipper Khaled Mashud Pilot and organizer Saiful Alam Swapon Chowdhury contested. The latter, however, triumphed to be elected for the third consecutive time.    Earlier, seven directors, all from Categroy-1 were elected unopposed.   While the election in the Categroy-2 was the center of all attraction, the Categroy-3 election also hogged the limelight with Nazmul Abedin Fahim, a veteran cricket coach challenging Khaled Mahmud Sujon. The election in this Category which involved public university, former cricketers and government agencies was believed to be intense, but former skipper Khaled Mahmud Sujon achieved a landslide victory. He was elected, claiming 37 votes while his opposite number Nazmul Abedin Fahim got only three votes.   National Sports Council (NSC), meanwhile, nominated two directors – Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby and Jalal Younus.     The board of directors will run the BCB for the next four years. Source: BSS AH

Ending all speculations, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon revealed that Mashrafe Bin Mortaza will play the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe and will play the role of captaincy for one last time. The BCB president said after this series, Bangladesh will move on for a new ODI captain, under whom the board wants the team to be regrouped well for the 2023 World Cup. “We need to setup the team with next world cup in focus and thus we need a captain. We want the team to play at least two years under the new captain before going into the World Cup. So we need to declare a new captain very soon. That might be decided in the next board meeting,” Papon said in the capital on Wednesday. Papon also made it clear that it is entirely Mashrafe’s decision as to whether he would continue as player or retire from the cricket but if he continues to play cricket, he would have to show his performance like other players. “If he wants to play, he can play, subject to his performance. At this moment we are thinking just about captaincy. We had seen that the famous players announced their retirement earlier before any series. We also had a desire to give Mashrafe a grand farewell but he does not want it to be,” he added. Mashrafe’s future was in dark, following the lanky pace bowler’s decision of not retiring from the cricket after the World Cup, despite the insistence of the BCB who wanted to give him a grand farewell, considering his contribution for the country’s cricket. In the World Cup Mashrafe took just one wicket in eight matches, putting a question mark on his career. It was clear that BCB wanted Mashrafe to retire from the ODI cricket, an only version of the cricket he is playing at the moment. But Mashrafe remained silent and subsequently opted him out from the Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka for three-match ODI series due to his hamstring injury. As Bangladesh didn’t play any ODI cricket after this, there was stalemate on this issue. Later, breaking the silence, Mashrafe announced that he won’t retire at this moment and would like to prove his fitness to play in the national team. He also said that he is not inclined to get any grand farewell what BCB promised. However a few days ago, both Mashrafe and head coach Russell Domingo and later Mashrafe and BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon met exclusively to decide on his future. Papon then had a meeting with three senior cricketers –Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque at BCB officer on Wednesday and came out to declare that Mashrafe is about to play his last ODI series as captain. “We know that it’s the time for him to decide about his future. I think Mashrafe will play the series against Zimbabwe and he will be in the team, subject to his fitness. If he isn’t fit then it’s other thing,” the BCB president said. “He is still the captain of Bangladesh ODI team and so he will play as the captain of the team.” Papon said it is tough to get a captain like Mashrafe right at the moment. “At this moment, we don’t have anyone like Mashrafe to lead the side. It’s true and we are telling this repeatedly.” But the BCB chief is apprehensive about Mashrafe’s ability to pass the beep test, a test which determines the players’ fitness. “In our cricket, some changes have already come. We have introduced beep Test to determine the players’ fitness. Mashrafe may not pass the beep Test. But at the same time, we have to remember his contribution for our country’s cricket,” Papon said, adding that they relaxed the matter of beep test in case of Mashrafe at this moment. “His captaincy is very important for us. At this moment we relaxed the beep test for him.” Source: BSS AH

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon said that Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s play in the upcoming one day series against West Indies is not certain due to election. He said this on Thursday but also mentioned that Mashrafe will play in the World Cup to be held in 2019. Earlier on Sunday Mashrafe collected the nomination papers for Narail-2 constituency from Awami League Dhanmondi office. At that time Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader collected the form in advance and later handed over to Mashrafe. On that day Mashrafe went to Prime Minister’s official residence at Gonobhaban at around 11:30 am and sought blessings from Awami League president and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. AH

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza decided to take retirement before playing the second and last T20 match of the series against Sri Lanka on April 6 last year. In his last match of the carrier tigers had a memorable win against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka were all out for 131 runs in 18 overs when they were chasing Bangladesh’s given target of 176 runs. The win by 45 runs made the series level 1-1. After that match the representatives of red-green played two T20 matches against South Africa in October. They were defeated by the South Africans in both the matches under leadership of Shakib Al Hasan. On the following month the fifth Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) began. The most successful captain of Bangladesh Mashrafe took the field as an icon player of Rangpur Riders. He brightly performed with bat and ball throughout the tournament. Under his leadership Rangpur Riders became champion taking part in the tournament for the first time. Then again tigers played two T20I matches against Sri Lanka in the home ground. Experienced Mahmudullah led the team as the regular captain Shakib was out of the squad due to injury. Team Bangladesh lost both the matches. After resigning of Coach Chandika Hathurusingha nobody was appointed in his place. Moreover, absence of Mashrafe made the team guardian less. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hasan Papon held meeting with the heart of the team. Mashrafe was asked to return to T20I. Even he was asked to take responsibility as the mentor of the team in Nidahas trophy. But Mashrafe clearly said he will not return. He said that from where he retired, he will not return from that decision. According to this the BCB chief said on Monday that Mashrafe is not going to return in T20I. In the last tri-nation series final match Shakib got injury in his finger and was out for the test and one day international series against Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is hosting a tri-nation series in Colombo including Bangladesh and India on the eve of their 70th independence day. For the tournament a 16-member Bangladesh team was declared on Monday keeping Shakib Al Hasan as captain. Imrul Kayes made a comeback while debutants against Sri Lanka Afif Hossain, Zakir Hasan and Mehedi Hasan were excluded from the team. Bangladesh team: Shakib Al Hasan (Captain), Mahmudullah Riyad (Vice captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Nazmul Islam Apu, Abu Hayder Rony, Ariful Haque, Abu Zayed Rahi and Rubel Hossain. AH