Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul returned to the country yesterday after spending over a month in Australia, during which a few intriguing developments took place. National Sports Council (NSC) formed an investigation committee to look into the BCB elections, the board responded with a statement, appearing to be in conflict with NSC over the probe and all the while domestic cricket remained static. The Daily Star’s Abdullah Al Mehdi spoke with Bulbul about the recent issues. Excerpts of the conversation are given below:

The Daily Star (DS): From the board’s statement, it seems that the government and the BCB are in confrontation. Does that put you in an uncomfortable position?

Aminul Islam Bulbul (AIB): Actually, the explanation of the statement was not entirely accurate, I think. There is no confrontation. We are a self-governed institute, we work independently. At that time, it seemed like there could be interference. If you look at that statement closely, you would see that it said it could happen, it didn’t say it has happened. Had there been some interference, international news organisations could have picked that up. That’s why we gave that statement as a precaution.

DS: Does the government’s decision to investigate the polls put your board in an awkward position?

AIB: The board has been up and running for five months. We have been playing series and domestic games. At the end of the day, the government is the custodian of our sports, not just cricket. We respect it.

DS: There was a sentence in the statement related to BCB requesting NSC to “close the matter” which many interpreted as a request to end the investigation. What was it?

AIB: No, that interpretation is wrong. Actually, sometimes meaning gets lost in translation. It was nothing like that. That would be absurd! We run cricket here in affiliation with the ICC and the ACC, but at the end of the day, we work under the Bangladesh government.

DS: Why didn’t you handle the matter through talks with relevant people and not a press release?

AIB: The decision had already come [NSC gazette]. It wasn’t a clash, we just clarified our position for all of our betterment.

DS: Two board directors have resigned, why?

AIB: It is completely their personal matter. But we haven’t accepted their resignations yet. We will talk.

DS: Can this board overcome the current crisis?

AIB: I don’t see a crisis anywhere. The board is running as it should. Our national team is playing and the women’s team are preparing for the Sri Lanka series. This is an elected board running for five-and-a-half-months so we don’t expect questions like that.

DS: How has your experience been in the last five-and-a-half-months as an elected president?

AIB: The first four months [becoming a director through NSC quota and being elected as president] and the next five-and-a-half months [elected as director and then as president] have been two different phases and it has been very challenging. We have been able to start cricket activities at the district level. But our main cricket, the lone List-A event, Dhaka Premier League has not happened yet. The Third Division league will start soon and teams from Second Division are playing while the First Division was completed. For the DPL, the board, umpires, grounds, scorers and players are ready. We are only waiting for the clubs. We feel heartbroken for the players [missing out on DPL income]. But what can we do?

DS: The World Cup issue has created a distance with ICC. How much of it has been resolved?

AIB: We have already recovered from it, Alhamdulillah. Many things have happened in-between which perhaps is not known to the press. I had to accept the decision from the previous government and we will have to abide by the decisions of the current government.

DS: Did you ever feel that you had to stomach that decision due to request?

AIB: No. But I had tried very hard to play. I am a cricketer at the end of the day.

DS: There are talks of the sports ministry opening an investigation on why the team did not compete in the World Cup. What do you know about that? AIB: I came to know of it from newspapers. All we have done is listen to the government. We had selected the team, all preparations were done. But we had to abide by the government’s directives.