Chandika in charge till 2019 WC

Bangladesh national coach Chandika Hathurusingha's contract has been officially extended till the 2019 World Cup.

The expected extension was officially confirmed in a board meeting at the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) headquarters in Mirpur yesterday afternoon.

The contracts of the national team's spin coach Ruwan Kalpage and trainer Mario Villavarayan have also been extended, BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon informed reporters following the meeting.

The BCB has also brought about several changes in the national selection process. The most highlighted among those was the exclusion of former national captain Habibul Bashar from the three-member selection panel, replaced by Sajjad Ahmed Shipon. Bashar will now work with the women's selection panel.

It is a surprising development because Bashar's record of recruiting players from domestic competition has been good. For instance, he played an important role in bringing Mustafizur Rahman to the national team.

The other change deals with the way the team will be selected. “A three-member selection panel will first select the team. There will be no interference from anyone. However, before submitting the team to me, they will sit with the coach and the manager in a meeting, convened by the cricket operations chairman. Once they all sign the team, only then will it come to me for the final approach,” Papon explained.

“There are many who expressed doubts regarding the new system, however, this is how it has been running informally ever since my arrival. I have just made it formal,” he added.

Furthermore, the BCB president also said that the board will take legal action against the Bangladesh Premier League franchisee, Sylhet Superstars.

“They still owe around Tk 3-4 crores to the board and to the players. Since they didn't pay that, we went to cash their bank guarantee. However, we couldn't do that due to some technical issues, which they created. As a result we have decided to take legal action against them,” said Papon.

He further added that the Bangladesh Premier League will begin on November 6.

Papon also said that the board has directed the clubs of the Dhaka Premier League to complete the payment of its players within the next 72 hours.

“If they don't, the BCB will pay on behalf of them and then take the sternest possible action against the clubs,” said Papon.

As of now, the majority of the clubs have only paid 20 to 30 per cent of the required dues. The board wants them to complete them within the next three days.

With regards to the Abahani-Prime Doleshwar clash at the BKSP last Sunday, which was postponed indefinitely after the umpires had decided not to continue the game, the president said that they would form a committee -- comprising BCB's umpires committee chairman Nazmul Karim, Disciplinary committee chairman Sheikh Sohel, match referee Rakibul Hasan and Athar Ali Khan -- to determine what exactly happened in that game. The committee has been directed to submit the report within 72 hours.

 “Actually, never have we faced such a situation before. We never had to stop a match for a reason like this.  There have been cases when players have angrily reacted against umpires. There have also been cases when umpires have fallen sick. So, honestly speaking, we don't know how to continue from here,” said Papon.

Furthermore, the BCB president also revealed that the board has formed a four-member bowling action review committee, which will be headed by BCB director Jalal Yunus.

While the process of judging the bowlers' action is still uncertain, Yunus revealed that it will be confirmed as soon as the league is over.

“For now, we will focus on those who have been suspected. We are even thinking of building a mini bowling lab in the near future,” said Yunus.