BPL needs image rehabilitation: Shakil Kasem
Nearly six months into its formation, the three-member inquiry body set up by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to look into the suspicious activities in the last Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), is set to submit its preliminary report next week.
Former cricketer and committee member Shakil Kasem told The Daily Star yesterday that they would submit the preliminary report to the board president Aminul Islam Bulbul. According to BCB insiders, the probable date of submission is August 25.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "The reason why we are putting this preliminary report right now is to assist the cricket board in its readiness for the upcoming BPL season. Complete details of our findings and recommendations will be in our final report, which we are going to submit in September," Shakil said.
Earlier this year, some reports in the media suggested the ACU has identified eight matches in the last BPL as suspicious, potentially involving spot-fixing and match-fixing, based on anonymous tips and media reports. Ten players and four franchises were reportedly under observation.
However, Shakil was tight-lipped when it came to naming any individual currently under suspicion, and he reiterated that as an inquiry committee, he and his fellow committee members – Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and advocate Dr. Khaled H. Chowdhury – can only make suggestions.
"This is an inquiry committee. Before taking any decision, you have to investigate it. We are not an investigation committee. We will suggest if this warrants further investigation," he said.
"We can't just talk about assumptions or say the names that have come up. We have to inquire whether there is any cricketing merit, did they violate any cricketing logic by doing a particular thing.
"Somebody bowled a wide, but was dew a factor, did the ball slip out of his hands -- we had to inquire these things from a cricketing perspective. Was it a freak incident or was it part of a pattern, whether this player has a history of doing this kind of thing before --we had to take everything into consideration," he added.
The former cricketer also said the board did not try to influence the inquiry committee in any way and that it was up to the BCB to decide whether the preliminary report would be made public or not.
The BCB had formed the inquiry committee on February 3 and Shakil detailed what lengths he and his fellow committee members have gone to in this inquiry in the past six months.
"Because of the gravity of this exercise and importance of it, the committee took its time. Information mining took its time. We engaged in over 61 sessions with over 60 individuals, we reviewed about 3500 pages of documents, listened to 300 hours of recorded depositions and testimonies, viewed countless video footages, listened to audio footages and all that."
Shakil was hopeful that the preliminary report, followed by the final one, will aid BCB in rejuvenating BPL.
"The report we will submit should not be seen as a conclusion of an exercise, rather a stepping stone for a beginning of a new chapter for Bangladesh cricket in general and the BPL in particular. There is potential for BPL to be a high-class franchise league, we will outline how the possibilities can be lined up to achieve that objective.
"The BPL needs both a restructuring as well as a rehabilitation of its image in the international arena. We are looking into ways and means on how it can be done," he added.
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