Will Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Game Development Unit chairman Khaled Mahmud and current chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain sitting across the table remain a talking point when the latter was appointed for the hot seat by the board?

The suspicion was not totally baseless if history is taken into account considering Mahmud defeated Ashraf in the BCB directors’ elections in 2013.

Earlier, Ashraf as a board director held various roles in BCB that included being the first Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) governing council chairman but he preferred to change his direction since being embarrassed by Mahmud during that election and focused on becoming a prominent face in TV talk shows and writing column in newspaper before being called back by BCB boss to be the successor of Minhajul Abedin as he is considered to be one of the best cricketing brains in the country.

It is not true that they did not come face to face considering they met on quite a few occasions in different social gatherings but at the same time none could deny that they hardly spoke about cricket during those meetings.

However, it was not the case on Tuesday considering both of them sat together across the table at the home of cricket to discuss cricket but more impotantly make an attempt to break the ice during their informal discussion.

“Please, don’t mix color,” Ashraf told the Daily Sun when his attention was drawn about the meeting along with the background.

“It was just an informal meeting where we discussed cricket as we wanted to understand where we stand from our respective positions. Since taking over I was busy with my own work while he was busy as well and so we could not make time but it is not a fact that we share such a relationship that we cannot sit together,” he said.

“We sat together to see how we can take the game forward as both of us are working towards that goal,” he added. Mahmud also seemed to have come a long way to keep anything in his heart as he looked happy to share his thoughts.

“After a very long time we sat together after he fixed the time for the meeting. I shared with him about my observations while listened to his ones as well,” he said.

“After a long time, he came to the board so I just told him that as he is coming back after a while he can look at certain things in certain ways and I am sure he will look after it because no one can raise a finger on his cricketing knowledge and vision,” he added.

Mahmud certainly has changed his stance as far as Ashraf is concerned considering he was the one who publicly criticized the decision after BCB boss selected Ashraf as the chief selector and that too with the stature of a board director.