Have to come together and fix Bangladesh cricket's damaged reputation: BCB President Tamim Iqbal

Former opening batter Tamim Iqbal was elected the new president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Sunday, June 7, following elections held in Dhaka. He will now serve a four-year term, after serving two months as ad-hoc head of the board, following the earlier board under President Aminul Islam, which was dissolved by the Bangladesh government in April.

Speaking after his victory, he outlined his goals for his term, of which a major one is to restore Bangladesh cricket’s reputation on the world stage and build better communication channels with former players. Bangladesh pulled out of the T20 World Cup in 2026 after sociopolitical concerns in India forced fast-bowler Mustafizur Rahman to be withdrawn from the IPL. He also assured transparency in BCB's affairs after years of criticism of the administration.

"The players need to be respected as much as possible - not just current cricketers, but former cricketers too. Every stakeholder in Bangladesh cricket will be respected. It was maybe lacking in the BCB in the last one and a half years. We have to come together and fix this damaged reputation of Bangladesh cricket," Tamim said, speaking on ESPNcricinfo.

"I want to ensure maximum transparency. I am sure that all of us at the board are not going to do anything controversial. We want to work with full honesty. I am sure we will make mistakes, but I look forward to seeing how quickly we rectify those mistakes," he added.

Tamim further spoke of the sense of responsibility he feels and stated that he needs to prove himself to everyone. 

"There is no extra feeling that I have become something really big. It is a massive responsibility. I have spoken about so many things about the cricket board for the last few years, so now I feel that this is the time when I have to prove myself to everyone,” Tamim explained.

Tamim further mentioned that one of his biggest goals as president is to build a new high-performance centre, outlining basic plans for the same. The BCB's current High Performance Centre is in the complex of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

"The High Performance Center is probably my biggest dream," Tamim said. "I hope that I can fulfill this dream. We will need big support from the government. Initially the BCB can fund this center. We have asked the company that designed the existing centre for a re-design. We hope that we can start the centre in Purbachal. As you can imagine, such a large-scale project requires a lot of money. We will definitely seek the government's support in that regard. I have met the country's finance minister about it, he was very positive about the project so now we have to apply to the government."