Picture Credit: X
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President, Faruque Ahmed, has admitted to the match-fixing plague in domestic cricket in one of his recent interviews to the reporters in the country during a promotional event. The 59-year-old spoke about how the fixing of matches in the country has reduced a lot in the first, second, and third divisions of domestic cricket in Bangladesh, but it hasn’t gone completely as per his estimation.
Notably, BCB had confirmed earlier about launching an investigation in regard to suspected match-fixing in the Dhaka Premier League Division Cricket 2024-25 match between Gulshan Cricket Club and Shinepukur Cricket Club. Over the course of the Bangladesh Premier League at the turn of the year, there were multiple reports about suspicious play in matches, which were linked to match-fixing as well.
I think fixed games have been reduced significantly, but it has not stopped totally: Faruque Ahmed
After taking part in the cricket carnival program, which was organised by Khelbei Bangladesh for promoting the sport among youngsters, Faruque Ahmed spoke to the reporters on the sidelines where he divulged on the match-fixing claims in Bangladesh cricket. He was quoted as saying, as per Cricbuzz, “I think fixed games have been reduced significantly in the First Division, Second Division and Third Division, but it has not stopped totally.”
“If the games are fixed, you cannot get good players because you are asking your best player to score a duck or you will ask your best player to bowl wides and no balls, and not take wickets, so that is not cricket at all,” he added.
Faruque Ahmed also spoke about how he was a part of the ICC meeting overseas recently, where the matter of match-fixing was discussed, and he said, “I arrived two to three days back (from the ICC meeting) and we have a technical committee and we will do thorough investigation. If we get anything conclusive, definitely we will punish the culprits.”
