Bangladesh govt reveals why Faruque Ahmed was sacked; ICC reacts to leadership change

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Faruque Ahmed was removed from the presidential post by Bangladesh’s sports ministry. Now, Bangladesh’s sports adviser has opened up the reason for Faruque Ahmed’s removal from the presidential post.

Bangladesh’s sports adviser, Asif Mahmud, revealed that Faruque Ahmed’s performance in the last nine months wasn’t up to the mark, and he was also involved in the irregularities in the sports ministry’s fact-finding committee report.

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Faruque Ahmed's removal

The sports ministry issued a statement on May 29 that they had received a no-confidence motion against Faruque Ahmed from the other eight directors. Eight BCB directors agreed to remove Faruque from the presidential post, and only former Bangladesh skipper Akram Khan was opposed to the no-confidence motion against Faruque.

Faruque was elected as a director on August 21, 2024, and became the president of Bangladesh cricket on the same day, but his performance in the Bangladesh Cricket Board wasn’t good at all in the last nine months.

The eight BCB directors accused Faruque of autocratic leadership and also highlighted Clause 14-B of the Bangladesh cricket constitution, which stated that the hiring or sacking of any coach must be approved by all the directors of the board.

Faruque removed Chandika Hathurusingha, head coach of Bangladesh’s cricket team, without the approval of other directors. Ahmed wasn’t working on the development of Bangladesh cricket, nor respecting the spirit of democratic governance, the committee claimed.

Reason for the removal of Faruque Ahmed

Bangladesh’s sports adviser, Asif Mahmud, stated that the committee didn’t remove Faruque due to corruption charges; they removed him because of his performance, and all the committee members agreed on his lack of performance.

The committee contacted ICC for the change in leadership, and the global body welcomed their decision. There is no communication gap between their board and ICC, as claimed by Asif Mahmud.

"We have properly contacted the ICC. The new president also worked in the ICC for a long time," Asif said in a press briefing in Dhaka. "There's no communication gap. ICC knows the situation here, so they have welcomed the decision."

"I spoke to Faruque bhai personally. It is not like we removed him because we found corruption charges against him. It is totally performance-based. Just like a selection committee wouldn't pick an out-of-form player, it is the same for us."

This year’s BPL was involved in many irregularities, like the non-payment of overseas players in the Durbar Rajshahi franchise. It was a shame for Bangladesh cricket, and their chief advisor, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, didn’t attend the BPL final as well because of the embarrassment.

"NSC has the jurisdiction to give or take a [BCB director] nomination. We didn't remove the president. We took his directorship, which is why his presidency was gone. We nominated another director. The board followed the ICC guideline and BCB constitution to elect the next president," Mahmud stated.

Who is BCB's new president?

After the removal of Faruque, the board of directors elected Aminul Islam as the new president of Bangladesh cricket. Aminul scored the first Test century for Bangladesh and also worked with the ICC and ACC after his retirement.

Bangladesh cricket isn’t on the right track as they lost a T20I series against the UAE for the first time in their history. They lost two consecutive T20I matches against Pakistan one-sided. Aminul will look to take some steps for a good change in Bangladesh cricket.