Minhajul mulling return to selection panel

Former chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu insisted that he is considering to make a return to the national selection panel of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in the coming days.

Minhajul, previously the head of the selection panel for eight years from 2016 to 2024, was replaced by current chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, who got a two-year tenure.

However, Ashraf then stated his intention not to continue as chief selector after completing his stint due to personal reasons, prompting the board to look for a suitable candidate.

The BCB requested Ashraf to continue for one more month, till March 2026, as they had to prepare the squad for the forthcoming One Day International series against Pakistan at home.

For the first time in its history, the board put up an advertisement for the vacant posts of the selection panel and asked the interested candidates to submit their CV by 8 March.

Habibul Bashar Sumon, who was considered the frontrunner to replace Ashraf, earlier said that he is in two minds about sending his CV for a post in the selection panel, given that he is currently working with BCB in its game development unit.

Minhajul, currently working as programme manager of BCB, appears to be in similar confusion, if not anything else.

“I will talk with the CEO (Nizam Uddin Chowdhury) tomorrow (Thursday) to know the procedure for applying and few other things as well, considering I am not sure whether I will be applying for the chief selector or for something else,” he noted.

“I worked as chief selector for eight years so now I need to understand what will be my role in the selection if I apply. If everything goes well, I can think over it and apply for it but at the moment I am not sure about the process. But if experience is considered as a major criterion in that case I feel I have got that in abundance due to my previous stint as national selection panel head. With that said, I am yet to make a final decision on whether I will apply for it but surely I am thinking about it,” he added.

Sources confirmed that several former national cricketers are eyeing to submit their CV for the two posts of the selection panel, including former left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique, and top-order batters Naeem Islam, Shamsur Rahman and Javed Omar Belim, among others.