Conflict of interest rife in BPL again

The issue of conflict of interest is once again set to dog the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) with BCB directors having connections to franchise owners and the board allowing national selectors to be part of the franchises' team management.

The Dhaka Dynamites franchise is owned by Beximco, where BCB president Nazmul Hassan is managing director of their pharmaceuticals unit and board director Ismail Haider Mallick is an executive.

Another BCB director Abdul Awal Chowdhury has been part of the Barisal Bulls ownership since 2015. It is unclear whether he is now the sole owner after the BCB imposed a life-ban on the franchise's co-owner Rizwan Bin Farouq for his involvement in an altercation inside the Shere Bangla Stadium at the end of the Asia Cup final this year.

Kazi Inam Ahmed, another BCB director, is a director at Gemcon Group, which recently bought the Khulna franchise. Inam is chairman of the BCB's marketing and commercial committee but it is the BPL governing council that takes decisions regarding the league's marketing and commercial activities.

Mallick said such conflicts were common in Bangladesh cricket, with top Dhaka Premier League clubs having their officials in the BCB.

"Abahani plays in the Dhaka Premier League, where I am the general secretary of their cricket [committee]," he said. "[Afzalur Rahman] Sinha bhai, Jalal [Yunus] bhai and Akram [Khan] bhai are also with Abahani. Lokman [Hossain Bhuiyan] bhai is from Mohammedan [Sporting Club]. Have we stopped putting out teams?

"In every cricket board around the world, every official or ex-player who comes to the board is involved with one team or the other. Can someone who is not involved at club, state or district level come to the board? It can't happen."

Mallick said that he and the BCB chief Hassan had no connection with the Dhaka Dynamites franchise, which was managed by another unit of Beximco. "The board president and I are in Beximco Pharmaceuticals," he said. "This team is looked after by Beximco Online Limited. Every entity is enlisted in the stock market. How can I influence the lottery?"

Mallick also denied allegations that the Dhaka Dynamites franchise knew ahead of other franchises about the governing council's decision to let A-category players choose their own teams.

"Comilla formally told the BCB CEO that they want to keep Mashrafe [Mortaza]. Chittagong said they want to retain Tamim Iqbal, while Barisal said they want either Mahmudullah or Mushfiqur [Rahim]. It is true that every team was interested in Shakib [Al Hasan].

"Now, you have to ask Shakib why he went to Dhaka. Definitely it is not the 55 lakh (Taka), or Tamim didn't go to Chittagong just for 50 lakh. These five players led by Mashrafe told us officially that they want to select their own teams."

Mallick also said that BPL franchises could hire national selectors and local coaches employed by the BCB, creating another possible source of conflict of interest.

"We will allow local coaching staff and selectors from the BCB to be attached to the franchises, but not any of the foreign coaching staff," he said. "The selectors won't be allowed in the dressing room on match days but they can actively participate in selecting XIs.

Mallick said the franchises had requested that national selectors and BCB coaches be part of their management, because there was a lack of ex-cricketers and coaches good enough to oversee international players in the BPL.

"What can the selectors do? Can they pick a D-grade cricketer for the national team?" Mallick said. "To keep their neutrality, we are not allowing them in the dressing room during [BPL] matches. This may influence something. But they can't influence anything sitting in the draft table.

"In Bangladesh, how many of the local coaches or ex-cricketers can compete with international coaches? It was also the franchises' demand that they be made available. It is for their benefit."