BCB boss Faruque speaks to media in a no media event

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Faruque Ahmed said he was thrilled by Bangladesh's current pace attack in an impromptu press conference after the winning bonus handing over ceremony for the national team at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel today, going against the board's own directive that there would be no media interaction at the event.

On Friday, the BCB had informed in a press release that there would be no press conference during the programme.

"Please note, no press conference or media briefing has been arranged. Only photojournalists and videographers/camerpersons will have the opportunity to capture images and videos," the media release stated.

However, that directive proved to be false as Faruque spoke with some media personnel who were present at the event where Adviser for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Asif Mahmud was present as chief guest.

In the media interaction, Faruque spoke about a variety of topics, starting with the pacers' performance in Pakistan.

Bangladesh pacers have been enjoying a very successful period in recent years and their recent most heroics came during the away Test series against Pakistan where pacers Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam played a crucial part in sealing a historic 2-0 series win.

"The most exciting part is our pace bowling unit. I have never seen a pace bowling attack like this from Bangladesh in my life time," Faruque told reporters after the event where the players were handed a winning bonus of TK 3.20 crore for their maiden Test series win in Pakistan.

"We know that we have a good spin attack but the pace bowling was unbelievable," he added.

Faruque informed the media that skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto announced in the programme that they will contribute a portion of their bonus to the flood-affected people and to those who were affected in the student-led people's movement. The BCB president also offered an explanation behind the lofty bonus amount.

"The captain has said that they will contribute a portion of their bonus to the flood-affected people and those who were affected in the student-led people's movement.

"It's Tk three crores and twenty lakhs. You have to understand that they won two Tests and also won the series. Some different bonuses have added up. A portion of the amount will go to the chief advisor's relief fund for the flood-affected people," he said.

Meanwhile, Faruque clarified that former skipper Tamim Iqbal's recent visit to the BCB office was just a casual visit where he and some other national team players like Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das and Mahmudullah sat in a meeting with the president to discuss issues regarding upcoming tournaments.

"He came as a player. Has he retired from cricket?" the BCB president said when asked in what capacity did Tamim came for the visit.

"Tamim came to meet me. After I became president, I couldn't sit with the players. He made the visit to meet me and secondly, as we are passing a difficult time, they made some proposals about how we can arrange tournaments like BPL in time," he concluded.