Bangladesh board split over media deals

Ali Asghar: denies any secret deal © Getty Images

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has been rocked by the resignation of Reazuddin Al Mamun, its joint secretary and chairman of the media committee, following reports that Ali Asghar, the board's president, struck a deal over television rights without advising Mamun.

Asghar is said to have agreed a TV and sponsorship deal with Aston Moore, who were also appointed as the board's marketing agents, and the situation was further complicated when he refused to accept Mamun's resignation.

Asghar denies any such arrangement. "I did not make any secret deal with Aston Moore as BCB marketing agent, I just gave them a letter to determine the value of BCB," he said. "I asked them assess current marketing value of the Bangladesh and the team and other rights, but Aston Moore failed to submit the assessment report within the stipulated period."

But a report in the Daily Star quotes a board insider as saying: "One thing is now sure that the BCB president had a deal with that agency. No doubt everybody was kept in the dark about it. Now an attempt is on to make both parties keep mum to avoid further complications.

"Actually there have been a lot of disputes over certain issues during the last six months and it became exposed after the elections of the board in August. It is not unexpected for Mamun to resign because he was not happy with certain things."

The report added that more resignations might follow. The source concluded: "I will not be surprised if the board president himself steps down citing his political commitments ahead of the next general elections."