Getting invited for dinner events by the Bangladeshi diaspora during overseas tours is nothing new for Bangladeshi cricketers. But in the past, the team has had a number of bad experiences during such programmes.
After those incidents, the BCB had barred such programmes for many years. On Friday, when this rule got relaxed in Brisbane, once again chaos ensued and both Bangladesh Association in Brisbane (BAB) and the Bangladesh team got stuck in an awkward situation.
BAB officials claimed that they had taken consent from the Bangladesh consulate in Australia and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to arrange a felicitation for the Bangladesh team when they are in Brisbane.
But the BAB officials alleged that in the event, which took place at the Victory Church Bellbird Park in Brisbane, some of the cricketers more or less insulted them.
The complaint was mostly directed towards Shakib Al Hasan. In the event, there were a few autograph bats kept to take signatures from the team and from the players individually. Although everyone else in the team signed those bats, Shakib didn’t.
In the discussion part of the event, Shakib concluded his speech in just one sentence.
The Bangladeshi diaspora in Brisbane who were involved with the programme, felt extremely insulted.
BAB president Sheikh Bashar Uddin told Prothom Alo over the phone, “The behaviour of our national team’s captain in front of the community members was disappointing.”
A representative from the Bangladesh community, Jishu Das Gupta, was irate with the behaviour of the team, “As we live far away, we are more emotional about our cricketers. They should’ve valued our emotion. A lot of young people were also present. They saw what his (Shakib) leadership was like.”
Another organiser Faruk Reza said, “The behaviour we received from the cricket team was disheartening. We expected them to be more enthusiastic. But that wasn’t the case.”
“Still, in victory and in defeat, we will back our cricket team,” he added.
However, the Bangladesh team’s side of the story is different. An official of the team who sought anonymity said, the cricketers were not informed that they would have to sign bats and take separate pictures with everyone present in the event. When, from out of nowhere, the players were told to do those things, they felt uncomfortable.
Moreover, the cricketers were to travel to Hobart via Melbourne the next day. They were not mentally prepared for so many formalities a day before a long journey.
He informed that the players also didn’t know that the organisers had taken a fee from the attendees of the event. Upon learning that, the cricketers didn’t take it too kindly.
To attend the event and to have dinner with the Bangladesh team, children aged between 6-12 had to pay a fee of 20 Australian dollars and adults had to pay 20 Australian dollars each.
However, the organisers said that they collected the fee to pay the rent of the hall room and to arrange for the meals. Close to 150 Bangladeshi attended the event.
A source from the organisers said, they took permission for the event from the top of the BCB. That’s why, even though some members of the team including Shakib were hesitant to go, they had to attend the event.
Why would the board repeatedly tell the team to attend such a programme during a World Cup is a valid question. And if they instruct the team to attend the event, it was definitely the board’s responsibility to make sure the cricketers don’t fall into an awkward situation.
But they failed to do so. And now, what happened in Brisbane in the name of a felicitation programme will only increase the rift between the cricketers and the supporters.
*This report appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy