M A A Chowdhury Bhulu, Director of Bangladesh Cricket Board talks about his journey in cricket and the mystery behind the recent success of the national team.
Q: As the very first question, we would like to ask you to start from the beginning. How was your early life? Where were you born and brought up?
M A A Chowdhury Bhulu: I was born in Barisal. I stayed there till my intermediate examination. After that, I came to Dhaka and got admitted to Dhaka University. After completing my honors, I had my masters degree from Jagannath University. In between, I did some business.
Q: How did you come into cricket?
MCB: I was into sports right from my childhood. There is a renowned cricket club in Barisal named 4H club. I was a player in that club. I also played football in the Abahoni 2nd division. Nevertheless, cricket was my first priority. I was an all-rounder at that time. I was pretty good at it. Once I even caught 7 balls while fielding in short leg – that is 7 wickets in a single match. I completed my HSC from Barisal Hatem Ali College. I was the captain of the cricket team over there. We turned out to be the champions in most of the tournaments. From there, I came to Dhaka in 1979. Over here, I played cricket in Gandaria for a year. Once we had a match against Dhanmondi and I was the opening batsman. They had a very good bowler named Selim. Back then, we didn’t use any helmet and I got hit in the face with the ball. I was very badly injured and couldn’t play anymore at that season. Around 1980, I also used to go to Abahoni club sometimes. I had a very good relationship with the players. They invited me to join them, so I joined. It was around 1981. I never thought of taking cricket as a profession. Actually, I was involved in business besides my studies. So it wasn’t possible to get engaged in cricket. All the playing was just for exercise and refreshment. It felt very good when I got into the field with the Abahoni team. But I had to travel a lot for my businesses and I couldn’t continue practicing at a stretch. During that time, I would play matches when I got the chance to practice for 15 or 16 days.
Actually, I had been involved with sports alongside business like this till 1989. I even played with Abahoni in Chittagong. In 1989, we became the champions in the Cricket Premier League. After that almost all the players of the Abahoni club went to GMCC and formed a team. At that time only I and another player, Jalal, remained in the club. So we decided to build the team for Abahoni club ourselves. I took the role of the team manager and Jalal was the coach. We gathered all the players for the new team. Abahoni club had an existing reputation in the country. Jalal and I tried our level best to maintain it. The players were also dedicated. At one point we even defeated the players who left Abahoni after the championship. We also brought two foreign players in the team. We took that team in the finals. We were defeated by Brazil in the finals and came third in the tournament. In the following year, I gathered some excellent players for the team and won 6 championship tournaments – Sadhinota Cup, SohidSmriti Tournament, Victoria Cup and three others. Next year I brought Samara Sefera to the team. We also had an India tour that year, for the Moin- Ud-Dowla Gold Cup in Hyderabad. I formed a very strong team. Actually the tournament was so competitive that even the national team couldn’t get to the quarter finals of that tournament ever. We had an easy win in the first match. Our second tournament was with Karnataka. They were such a strong opponent that we were almost sure of our farewell and even thought of booking the train ticket back home. But luckily, we won the match. This gave us a huge confidence boost and we defeated many top-notch teams and ultimately made it to the finals. We faced SBI team in the finals. We used to see them play on TV and had heard of them on the radio back in our country. It felt really good that I got to be their opponent’s team manager. Anyway, we had a very good game. But unfortunately, we ended up being the runners up. Nevertheless, it was a big achievement for us and the country – we reached the finals that even the national team couldn’t reach.
In the following years, we continued playing. I improved the team even more – we added players like Ashoka de Silva. That year, we defeated Mohammedan in the finals and became the champion. We had to chase the score of 255 runs in that game. After the first innings, we thought that we were going to lose. But Samara Sefera played a tremendous innings and he himself scored 167, and as a result, we won the game in just 42 overs. In the next year, Samara Sefera left our team. Back then, our chairman was Lotus Kamal. He proposed to find someone suitable for the position of Samara. So, I introduced Neil Fairbrother and Kenilworth to the team. Kenilworth was doing well, but Fairbrother’s performance was not up to the mark. Anyway, we faced Mohammedan once again. This time we didn’t have Samara and Fairbrother was also not in form. So it was an interesting match. Surprisingly, Akram did very well and we won. After the championship, I handed over my managerial position to Lipu as I had to go to America for business purposes.
Q: Were you still connected with cricket after moving to America? Can you please elaborate on what role you played from over there?
MCB: I had an emotional attachment with Abahoni. As a result, I founded Abahoni club in America. I took the strong national players from Bangladesh to my club. I also formed a cricket association – Bangladesh Cricket Association, North America over there. It brought all the Bangladeshi cricket clubs over there together under one organization. We also took an affiliation from BCB.
During that time, BCB was undergoing some problems with its funds. So we had a meeting over there at the association to help out the Bangladesh cricket team. In New York, league tournaments like Commonwealth League, Queens League were arranged. All the first-class players played in those leagues. We talked to them and managed 7 matches for the Bangladesh cricket team. BCB sent the team over there and we arranged the matches. My past managerial experiences from the Abahoni club helped a lot. I talked with different people and arranged the necessary funding and everything. When the team arrived in America, we received them with 3 stretched Limousines and 25 jeeps. We did everything possible to take good care of the team. The businessmen and other people helped a lot in this regard. The team was over there for around 1 month. At this time, around 20 dinner parties were arranged for the Bangladeshi team. We also took them on city tours. They were staying at Madison Hotel in Manhattan. We played around 6 matches. We couldn’t play one match due to rain. We won 2 matches. It was my country’s national team and I did everything to take proper care of them. I didn’t even let them feel that there was any problem with the funding or anything. Because, that period was very important for the cricket team. Next year in 1997, we had our qualification match which we won. For the motivational boost, I did everything for the team. I took the initiative and influenced all the Bengali people over there to come forward and I had to do the major works. I stayed 24×7 with the team for 60 days. Because I knew that if I wasn’t there, they wouldn’t have been treated that way. I couldn’t give any time even to my business over there and had to sell a shop in Manhattan due to the loss. But I don’t really care about that because I got to make a contribution to the country. And it meant everything to me.
From there, the team went to Malaysia and played. I was really happy to see them win the championship in Malaysia. Every team member said that it was really a fruitful tour for them. Our reputation as a team wasn’t so good back then and for this, we weren’t invited. But this tour taught them a lot. The following year, the team went to London for the World Cup. My brother, who was in Scotland, arranged everything to host the team. Over here in the country, on the occasion of the World Cup, I made necessary arrangements in the Abahoni club so that people can watch the game over there. I set up good seating arrangements and televisions in the club. After our team beat Scotland, I sent gifts to the cricket team.
Actually, whenever the cricket team returns from a foreign tour, I give them something as a token of my affection. Because I have spent all my life working for the improvement of Bangladeshi cricket and naturally I have a huge emotion for them. I even took initiative to establish Abahoni club in New York and currently 40 teams are playing under that association. I was the vice president and vice secretary just for the namesake. In reality I gave more funding and did more work than the president himself. I just gave up the post so that we could add more funding. Now they have premiere division, first division, and second division. They are regularly arranging matches over there. In 2009, Abahoni club celebrated 12 years anniversary over there. After that, I returned. We regularly played at league tournaments. Ex national players also went there to play for our club. The club still exists over there.
Actually, the people who are living in the country take it as a part of their lives and enjoy it a lot. But the Bengalis living in America were deprived of this experience because cricket is not much popular over there. The association gave them an opportunity to reconnect with the game. People from different provinces and states go there the play. There are many talented players over there. Some of them are so good that they can even join the national team if they tried. Even after leaving America, I send jerseys and other necessary things over there. I’m still in touch with them. They also show me much respect. The club still observes all the traditions that were established by me. It has actually become a hub. All the players from the national teams hang out over there whenever they go nearby. Even the political figures spend time over there. The club has built up a really good reputation.
Q: What happened after you returned from America? Can you tell us about your contributions after that?
MCB: After returning from there, I took the responsibility of the Abahoni club over here. I joined as the vice-chairman of the club for two years. I spend money on local players also. I have already sponsored a number of tournaments in Barisal. I also back up Abahoni as its secretary. I also see to its funding as much as I can. I had a really good relationship with the directors of BCB. After returning to Bangladesh, they requested me to be a part of the organization. It was time for the election. So I took part and got elected as the director. I concentrated on developing the condition and the facilities of the ground. The grounds of different districts were not very well. The condition of the dressing rooms and the pitch was really bad in some places. I wanted to change that so that the players get a good environment and facilities.
Q: In recent times, Bangladesh team is doing really good. What do you think is the main reason behind this success?
MCB: After joining the cricket board, when the team had the Sri Lanka tour, I was the team manager. I know that our players have huge potential. They just need proper nursing. If the coach, manager, captain, and players work in sync, they can do even better. Hathurusingha is very good in this respect. He really understands the player’s psychology and puts them to the test accordingly. So he can easily pull the best out of each player. He can judge the players very well. If he feels that a player will do well, he advises us to put him in the field. For example, he advised us to take Mustafiz. He is from my club Abahoni. But I never thought that he had this much potential. Hathurusingha really knows who will do well in which place and puts them into it accordingly. Currently, our former player Sujon was also a coach. So he also understands Hathurusingha well. They have very good coordination and relationship between them.
Actually now there is a very good relationship between the players and the people related to the team. That’s why now they can easily work out all of their problems. They have an overall unity among them. I would also like to add that our respected prime minister really loves the cricket team and does a lot to give them a motivational boost. Our women’s team was the runners up in the recent Asia Cup. The prime minister gave each player 1 lakh taka as a gift. After the success of the Bangladesh team in the World Cup, she, along with BCB and Salman F. Rahman, distributed about 8 crore taka among the team. She also goes to the field in all the major matches of the country. It really boosts them up. During the game in Australia, she got up early and watched the game. She even called them over the phone personally to motivate the players. These things really increase the dedication and motivation of the players. These have made all the players and the people related to the team turn out to be a complete family.
Q: Now it’s an era of marketing and branding. But experts fear that if the new players get exposure to branding and marketing, it will ultimately do harm to them. How do you see this thing?
MCB: Well, those who do commercial business and marketing, they definitely would want to make money through branding. A player will also think that he has come a long way through hard work. So, he will want to earn money using their brand value naturally. But he needs to give more priority to his game. So, there needs to be a balance. And in practice, the current players are really busy with the games. Outside of it, they don’t have enough scope to get involved in these things.
Q: Alhamdulillah, you have huge contribution in the whole cricket sector of Bangladesh. But what are your future plans? Where do you see BCB and the Bangladesh cricket team in ten years?
MCB: We definitely want to become one of the top class teams so that we are considered as good as India, Australia, or England. We have defeated a number of very good teams. Our primary concern is to maintain this consistency. At the same time, we want to improve. Besides, I want to improve the condition of cricket in every division and district. I wish that the players outside the major cities get the best facilities. I also want to arrange more and more league tournaments. My dream is that every stadium in the country will arrange games. I wish that we get top-quality players from all the divisions and cricket spreads more among the mass. Only then will we be able to truly improve.
