It was a dream that Bangladesh would play in the semifinals of the 13th Men’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 for the first time. But the Tigers were far away from the last four. The dream went in vain. Bangladesh won two outings from nine matches and acquired four points. The Red and Green finished eighth in the ongoing tournament.
Many think that, Tigers diabolical World Cup was down to pre world cup fiasco involving two stalwarts Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal.
Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) media committee chairman Tanvir Islam Tito said that the board will take a decision on what action to take against Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal for their pre-tournament interviews after receiving the disciplinary committee's report.
"No, I didn't know about the interview beforehand," he said about Shakib's interview to a local TV station on the day the team left for India for the World Cup.
"When a tournament is going on, we only focus on that. Now that the team has returned, after we get the disciplinary committee's report, we will definitely hold discussions about it," he added.
Tanvir also said that Shakib' interview and the ones given by Tamim Iqbal to media outlets in the months leading up to the World Cup, disrupted the team's harmony and hurt them in the World Cup.
"Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur (Rahim), Riyad (Mahmudullah)- are all senior cricketers. They are well aware of their contracts. If we make a list of legendary Bangladesh cricketers, their names will appear at the top. If they hadn't given such interviews right before the World Cup, we wouldn't have been in such an awkward position. It probably would've been better for the team."
Tanvir also said that the media should also shoulder blame for the chaos leading up to the team's doomed World Cup campaign in India.
"If we start blaming everyone for this, then the media also have to take responsibility for their role in this. I always believe that we and the media are on the same side. Just as we are responsible to work to develop cricket, you (media) also have a responsibility to provide support.
"We are all here because of cricket. If cricket doesn't survive, we also wouldn't be here. So that's why, maybe it would've been better if such questions were not brought up at the time," he said.
