Minhajul Abedin contemplates return to national selection panel

Minhajul Abedin, Bangladesh's former chief selector, has revealed that he is contemplating a return to the national selection panel. Minhajul, who was head of the national selection panel for eight years from 2016 to 2024, was replaced by current chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain in March 2024 for a two-year tenure.

However, Ashraf insisted that he is not ready to continue as chief selector for personal reasons after completing his stint that forced the board to look for a suitable replacement. BCB requested Ashraf to stay back for one more month as they had to prepare the squad for the forthcoming ODI series against Pakistan.

The board for the first time in their history put up an advertisement for the vacant posts of the selection panel and asked the interested candidates to submit their CV by Mach 8. Habibul Bashar, who was considered as the front runner to replace Ashraf, told this website earlier that he is in two minds about sending his CV for the post in the selection panel considering he is currently working with BCB in their game development unit.

Minhajul, who is currently working as program manager of BCB, appears to be in similar confusion. "I will talk with the CEO tomorrow (March 5) to know the applying procedure and a few other things as well considering I am not sure whether I will be applying for the chief selector or for something else," Minhajul told Cricbuzz on Wednesday.

"I worked as chief selector for eight years so now I need to understand what will be my role in the selection panel if I apply. If everything goes well, I can think over it and apply for it but at the moment I am not sure about the process but if experience is considered as a major criterion in that case I feel I have got that in abundance due to my previous stint as national selection panel head though I am yet to make a final decision on whether I will apply for it or not but surely I am thinking about it.

Sources confirmed several former national cricketers are looking to submit their CV for the two posts of the selection panel that includes former left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique, Naeem Islam, Shamsur Rahman, Javed Omar Belim among others.