Bangladesh: Minhazul in, Siraj and Co. out (10 April 1999)

10 April 1999

Bangladesh: Minhazul in, Siraj and Co. out

Our Sports Reporter

Minhazul Abedin has made it to the World Cup squad. Despite his good batting form and experience, the selectors opted to overlook him. The decision was not popular. The BCB seemed inflexible and at one stage some officials were showing ICC rules as a reason for being unable to include him in the 15-man squad. This, even when first Australia, then Pakistan, India, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies included players from outside their list of 19 players.

The Sports minister joined the fans, people as he put it, to urge the BCB to include Minhazul Abedin. The demand grew popular as among the fifteen named, Faruque Ahmed was injured even before his selection.

Finally, the BCB decided at a meeting at the BKSP last Thursday to include Minhazul Abedin.

The three-man selection committee, chaired by Enayet Hossain Siraj, has been given the axe. Some fans are of the view that the selection committee is being made the scapegoat; there are deeper plots in the story.

The responsibility to omit one cricketer from the 15-man squad to make room for Minhazul Abedin has been given to the team management, according to Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) joint-secretary Mahmud Ul Haque yesterday.

Talking to The Daily Star at the BCB office yesterday, Mahmud, who is now the acting general secretary with Syed Ashraful Huq away to Sharjah to attend an ICC meeting, said that as they have already dissolved the selection committee in Thursday's meeting, the team management comprising the manager, the coach and the co-ordinator will decide who will be dropped from the England-bound team to pave the way for Abedin.

Mahmud also said that a formal announcement might be made by the board in this regard either today or tomorrow.

"The team management will sit on Saturday and finalise the matter with board president Saber Hossain Chowdhury," said Mahmud.

When asked about the sacking of the selection committee, Mahmud said that the committee failed to select a proper team for the World Cup, which became apparent during the Meril International Cricket Tournament last month.

In this regard, The Daily Star failed to communicate with Siraj as his mobile phone was on off-mode yesterday.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)