Bulbul's Advisory Committee clouded in questions

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul's three-member Advisory Committee has attracted a lot of criticism as the nomination of its members has not been in line with the board's constitution.

It was the president's preference in appointing advisors for unconventional and even unprecedented roles that raised questions.

Hospitality industry specialist Shakawath Hossain, sports media analyst Syed Abid Hussain Sami, and legal expert Shyikh Mahadi formed the committee, a BCB press release confirmed on Thursday.

This created a stir, and rightly so, as it left most dumbfounded about what their roles would be in the current board setup and what caused such an urgency that the president was willing to sidestep the BCB constitution in his sheer willingness to bring the trio on board.

According to Clause 18 of Chapter Four of the BCB constitution, the BCB president can form a five-member Advisory Committee, with the obligation that its members are renowned cricketers or renowned cricket organisers -- a stipulation that the latest appointment does not meet.

Even Bulbul himself agreed that his latest move was not in accordance with BCB's constitution.

"It [the appointment] was need-based. We will have to adjust and will sit with the National Sports Council to make these adjustments," Bulbul said in an interview with BDnews24.com on Friday.

According to Bulbul, the appointment of a hospitality industry specialist was made to bring in the benefits of cricket tourism. However, the upcoming major events that will be hosted by Bangladesh are the 2027 Women's World Cup, the 2027 Men's Asia Cup, and the 2031 Men's World Cup, alongside numerous bilateral series.

As alienated an approach coming out of the blues as it may seem, the question remains why Bulbul, who claimed to have come to the helm for a short period and to play a "T20 innings", went for something so far in the future?

Another explanation regarding the appointment of Sami also made heads scratch. Bulbul said Sami was brought in "not to advise on cricket growth or development, rather more for cricket digitalisation on social media to make the sport more popular".

With the BCB elections tentatively scheduled to take place in October, instead of tackling the core cricketing issues at hand that need immediate response, how do long-term side missions help in alleviating the issues crippling the progress of the game?

Clearly, none of the above motives tackles the issue that was shown as the main cause for the removal of the previous BCB president, Faruque Ahmed. Underwhelming performance of Faruque -- in ways he handled different domestic tournaments, alongside the way the national team fared under him -- was shown as the main reasons by Youth and Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud at that time.

Bulbul could've formed a committee to make meaningful changes like a team that could work on amending certain aspects of BCB's constitution, particularly focusing on decentralisation of cricket; limiting the grip and influence of Dhaka-based clubs in the board which in turn could very well work in its own way to create the foundations of a more inclusive BCB election. This was the cornerstone in the initial months of former BCB boss Faruque's tenure but it was quashed owing to pressure from Dhaka-based clubs.

Faruque was heavily criticised for similar tendencies which centred around nibbling with secondary issues rather than addressing the pressing ones and making moves that raised eyebrows rather than providing clarity -- traits that cost him the job eventually.

Bulbul's latest move raised questions -- but more importantly, what it did was hide the progress regarding the pressing issues, which ultimately should have been the main focus of the newly appointed board president.

As it seems, regardless of who is at the helm, the BCB remains in its old ways -- producing more questions instead of addressing the elephant in the room.