Tamim vows to turn 'father's blessing' board into 'cricket's blessing'

Newly-elected Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Tamim Iqbal said on Sunday that he will try to turn the "father's blessing" tagged cricket board into a "cricket's blessing" while sharing his dream to build a state-of-the-art high performance centre at Purbachal.

Tamim's cricket board has been heavily criticised, bearing in mind that as many as 14 directors out of 25 are directly involved with the country's current ruling party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

After his victory in Sunday's BCB election, Tamim addressed the issue in his first speech as president.

"Those who have been elected — many of them I am meeting for the first time as well — but what I clearly said in our meeting is this: whatever your personal identity may be, we have only one responsibility, and because of that responsibility we are sitting here today, and that is to serve Bangladesh cricket and take Bangladesh cricket forward," he said in his opening statement.

"We all have to keep one thing in mind, which is that the reputation damage that Bangladesh cricket has suffered worldwide, I alone cannot fix this. I will need everyone's support here," he added.

When asked about the political connections of most BCB directors, Tamim was blunt. "Yes, many kinds of tags are being given. That is definitely their personal opinion. Let's see, maybe we can do something beyond 'father's blessing' and actually do cricket's blessing in the future," he said.

Tamim also shared his dream of building a high performance centre, a project started under Nazmul Hasan Papon's board.

"About the high-performance centre, yes, it is probably my biggest dream," he noted.

"A small update: a few years ago a company called Populous designed it, including the stadium and high-performance centre. When I took charge, I saw the design. I did not like it very much. We have already paid a large amount of money, and some payments are still pending. I have already had a Zoom meeting with them, with the CEO and others, and I invited them to come to Bangladesh so we can redesign it," he added.

He also expects government support to execute the grand plan. "Because the way I think, or the dreams I have, probably do not fit what was designed. So we are working on redesigning it and hopefully we can start this in Purbachal. The whole project requires a lot of money, so we will need strong government support. I have already started initial discussions. Even when I met the finance minister, I mentioned it. He was very positive and asked for details. We will formally apply. And National Sports Council is also involved, so we will go through them. It is a big dream and I hope I can fulfil it," he said.

Tamim also said that he wants to amend the current BCB constitution based on suggestions submitted by the NSC inquiry committee on last year's BCB election, while vowing to be transparent. "There are a lot of things, loopholes, and if we all agree together, we will discuss them in the next Annual General Meeting," he stated.

"I hope we can be as transparent as possible. Because I am sure I do not want any of my board members to do anything that makes us controversial. From my side and from the whole board's side, we can say we will try to act with full honesty," he added.

At 37, Tamim is now the BCB's youngest president.

As he takes on the challenges ahead, the former Bangladesh captain knows it is his time to prove himself.

"The feeling is responsibility. I do not have any extra feeling that I have become something big. I think it is a massive responsibility. And since I have talked about these things many times before, I said I want to do this, I want to do that. And this is the time where I prove myself to everyone," he concluded.