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New Delhi, August 20 (HS). Jalal Yunus has resigned from the post of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Director and Chairman of the Cricket Operations Committee.
Jalal's resignation comes after the National Sports Council, the controlling authority of Bangladesh's 41 different sports bodies, asked him to step down.
Jalal, a former fast bowler who played professionally in the 1980s, has been a sports organiser since the late 1990s. He has been in key roles at the BCB continuously since 2009 and became the head of cricket operations in December 2021.
“I have resigned in the larger interest of cricket. I am fully committed to running cricket in the right way. I agree with their intention to replace me as per the constitution. I don't want to be an obstacle in the progress of cricket,” Jalal told ESPNcricinfo.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Sajjadul Alam, the second NSC-nominated director at BCB, turned down the board's request to step down the same day.
“I told them that since they had nominated me as NSC counsellor and then I became a director, they have to do it. They can tell me their decision about me,” he told ESPNcricinfo.
Alam is also an experienced game organiser, currently serving as the chairman of the BCB's Tournament Committee.
The NSC's move comes after new sports adviser Asif Mahmud demanded reforms in all sports federations in Bangladesh, including the BCB.
He has said he wants to see a politics-free sports field. The BCB, the custodian of Bangladesh's most popular sport, has been built on political influence over the past 15 years.
BCB chief Nazmul Hasan was the country's sports minister, while the BCB's board of directors included an MP, a former MP, a former mayor and two cousins of the country's prime minister. Even two of Bangladesh's top cricketers were members of parliament.
The NSC can now nominate another person as its director in the BCB, replacing Jalal, who has resigned. Reportedly, 58-year-old former Bangladesh captain and two-time chief selector Faruk Ahmed is likely to be the director nominated by the NSC.