Committees Are Not a New Face of Bangladesh Cricket but Old Fear in New Clothing

I woke at two in the morning to a message from a video call. A colleague had written: another committee has been formed at the BCB. I laughed. As I laughed, I remembered that during my playing days with Udity Club in 2026, our ground had two entry lines, one person each, for patting on the body and taking a catch before the match. Some people laugh at the word committee; others secretly fear it. After fifteen years of writing on cricket, I can say that each committee announcement is not a new face of Bangladesh cricket; it is old fear in new clothing.

What the Committee Says, What It Does Not

In recent years the Bangladesh Cricket Board has repeatedly announced committees covering coaching, selection, domestic structure, and ICC tournament preparation. Each announcement comes with a single promise: transparency will be ensured. Yet transparency is visible only when a decision is implemented. Recently the board formed a committee on domestic tournament structure. The first information suggests its recommendations will take effect before the next domestic season. The number of members, criteria for appointment, and term have been clearly stated officially.

Here the first question arises. Raising the number of committees in Bangladesh cricket is about distributing responsibility, not reducing liability. Since the board elections in 2026, a silent agreement had existed among representatives from different zones: decisions on the field would hear the coach and players first. Each committee announcement pushes that agreement back. Studying economics in college taught me that when an institution keeps forming committees, it means it lacks the courage to sit with the burden of a decision.

An Idea from the History of Committees

Committee culture in Bangladesh cricket is not new. A coaching committee existed in the 1990s before the BCB took its present form, another before the 2026 World Cup, and two election committees in the 2010s. Each of these committees finished with a report that usually never made the front pages. A former colleague who worked seven years in the BCB press room used to say committee reports are hidden because they contain many inconveniences. What does inconvenience mean? The responsibility of deciding.

Here I can offer a number. In 2026, the BCB announced a 19-member committee for domestic cricket reform. Its recommendations numbered 47. Twelve were published. Where did the other thirty-five go? I do not know the answer, and that is precisely my subject.

Whose Fear Lies Behind Each Committee

I entered the BPL commentary box in 2026 on a midnight train. A senior commentator told me that in Bangladesh some people do not want to take big decisions because afterwards someone will ask why they did this. Fear, in plain numbers, is fear of the decision, of reputational damage, of later answering for it. Forming a committee divides the fear. When multiple heads sit on one shoulder, no single head carries the pressure.

That is why criticism subsides immediately after each committee announcement. When the BCB formed a medical committee during Covid in 2026, everyone praised it. But did anyone follow its recommendations? Nobody knows the answer. The committee is created to tell all of us that we are busy working.

From My Own Experience

In 2026 I was scripting Mohammedan versus Sheikh Russel. After the match, a 72-year-old season-ticket holder was crying; Jamal Bhuyan had scored in the 89th minute. I learned the name of no committee until later. Inside the ground there are no committees; there are players, the men watering the pitch, and hands practicing shots before the match.

So when I laughed at the two a.m. message, I thought: however many committees there may be, the ground answers in one line. The clearest example came in 2026, when the BCB formed a pace bowling committee. Shoriful Islam returned to the field and his performance said it all: if a person is trusted, results follow. Shoriful took 21 Test wickets in 2026, a figure absent from any committee report.

The Opposite View: Are Committees Really Bad

Per my own rules, I must offer a counter-perspective. Not all committees are bad. When the BCB formed a junior selection committee in 2026, many young players earned spots in top-tier sides on its recommendations. At that time a committee was necessary because personal preferences dominated.

So the problem is not the committee; the problem is hiding the committee's outcomes. If a committee is a means, and its results are written on the scoreboard, then the committee works. In Bangladesh, however, we treat committees as results, because they conveniently mask our weaknesses.

The Last Line

At two in the morning I sent another message to my colleague: I will write about the committee, but about the number of reports, not about the announcement. He laughed.

Standing on the ground, what I have learned is this: whether it is a committee or a coach, the match is not bound for them. The match begins with the ball and ends on the scoreboard. When the next committee announcement comes next season, will we count its members or read its report? That question is hard to answer, yet if we do not answer it, we will return to the same cycle once again.