The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) met with BCB top match referee Roquibul Hasan today to ask him why he criticized the board in a recent interview for hiring head coach Chandika Hathurusingha. But words made in another interview that were made public this evening are now making a stir.
Today in the afternoon, the former captain went to the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium and was seen going into the office of BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury.
In a recent interview, Roquibul said a few things about how coaches are chosen and hired, which the board did not take lightly. As an officer with the BCB, he was asked about the statements.
“They wanted to know more about what was said in an interview,” Roquibul told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.
“It wasn’t a trial or anything like that. I have to follow the code of conduct because I work for BCB. They were hurt, so it makes sense that they wanted to be a little more clear. In the conversation, there was some misrepresentation because they left out some parts and made up the rest. He added, “They wanted to hear from me.”
But today, a TV station showed another interview with Roquibul in which he talked about Chandika Hathurusingha’s son and questioned why the head coach’s son had been around the national team.
“I’ll ask [Nazmul Hassan] Papon bhai to look into this. In his most recent talk, Roquibul had said, “There are a few things that don’t go with professional sports.”
The Daily Star asked the CEO of BCB about it.
“Roquibul bhai is with us as the top match official, and the board has talked about some of the things that were said in the media. We talked to him because we wanted to talk about those things. Nizamuddin said of today’s talk with Roquibul, “It’s not like he was called in.”
When asked about the most recent interview, which talked about rumors about Hathurusingha’s son, the CEO of BCB said that they will meet with Roquibul again after talking among themselves.
When asked if an answer was needed for what was said about Hathurusingha’s son, Nizamuddin said, “This thing [the new interview] came out today. We talked about what Roquibul bhai had said in the past in the media. A few things worried the board. We didn’t talk about the new interview during our talk.”
“First, we need to talk about what was going on and find out what information Roquibul has that led him to say those things. Hathurusingha’s son is here to spend a few days with his father, and since he studies sports, he wants to see how a sports team works in real life. When asked if a show-cause letter would be sent to the BCB chief match judge, the BCB CEO said, “That’s all there is to it.”