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Tamim fiasco fits the chief’s profile

Mohammad Isam
Bizarre is becoming regular in Bangladesh cricket these days, more specifically over the last three years of AHM Mustafa Kamal's rule.
The latest episode, on Monday, saw chief selector Akram Khan saying that it was the Bangladesh Cricket Board president who dropped Tamim Iqbal from the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup. The interference in team selection is not an isolated incident, but another sharpening of the knives to stab cricket in the back.
But this meddling in the decision-making of the selectors and the high-handedness of the BCB chief is not a surprise for anyone remotely interested in Bangladesh cricket.
Now, one may think that Kamal is not entitled to obstruct the selectors; in fact it is within the jurisdiction of the board president to approve the national team but Kamal has taken this privilege a little too seriously. From what seemed like a hands-on approach during the time Rafiqul Alam was the chairman of selectors, it has grown into total intrusion by Kamal. The BCB presidents used to let the selectors, an independent body, run its course and post-approve the selection. It has happened for the best part of the last 15 years, almost half of which had professional selectors in charge.
So Kamal has taken over the mantle of team selection but his decisions are not cricketing but rather detrimental to the country's game. In a deserted cricket board yesterday, it was learned that Tamim's fitness was what the BCB chief was concerned about despite the left-handed opener being cleared by the team doctor. In such situations, question marks quickly arise over whether the chop was due to personal vendettas, because it sure wasn't cricketing. But the Tamim controversy is not the first time that Kamal has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Known for his inclination towards showboating, the man in charge of Bangladesh cricket is far more concerned about security issues in another land, his personal obsession with the ICC presidency (despite not knowing what is happening with the vice-presidency), snatching away the captaincy, naming coaches when they are not even remotely related to
a job in Bangladesh and being least concerned about the first-class structure.
A fine example of Kamal's modus operand! has to be the proposed launch of a television channel of the BCB. From the next day, not a word was heard about the project, which by all accounts was just a figment of his imagination.
On a serious note, the manner in which he has planned the eradication of professionalism — replacing the CEO (chief executive officer) with COO (chief operating officer) and abolishing the CFO (chief financial officer), slashing executive power of the top official which means that the board activities will be run by amateurs instead of professionals in BCB — is proof enough of why a lot of people blame Kamal for harming cricket rather than helping the game.
The mere chop of a cricketer’s name from a squad list may not amount to much if Tamim is recalled after a fitness test or Akram & Co decide to stay put as selectors. But Kamal's intrusion into cricketing territory takes cricket back to the bad old days when club officials blatantly pushed cricketers for national selection.
So to pull together a conclusion, a question can easily be asked. Is Bangladesh cricket riding on the back of the late poet Shamsur Rahman's "peculiar camel"?