Tamim: Building a world-class High Performance Centre 'my biggest dream'

Building a world-class High Performance Centre in Bangladesh is on top of BCB's newly elected president Tamim Iqbal 's list. The former Bangladesh captain said he had begun planning the facility in Dhaka's eastern suburb when the Bangladesh government appointed him as the head of the ad hoc committee last April.

"The High Performance Center is probably my biggest dream," Tamim said. "I hope that I can fulfill this dream. We will need big support from the government. Initially the BCB can fund this center. We have asked the company that designed the existing centre for a re-design. We hope that we can start the centre in Purbachal. As you can imagine, such a large-scale project requires a lot of money. We will definitely seek the government's support in that regard. I have met the country's finance minister about it. he was very positive about the project so now we have to apply to the government."

The BCB's current High Performance Centre is on the premises of the Shere Bangla National Stadium. It is, however, a limited facility.

Tamim also hopes to restore Bangladesh cricket's reputation. Over the last few months, the board has had to deal with several controversies including Bangladesh's absence at the T20 World Cup. media boycotts.

"The players need to be respected as much as possible - not just current cricketers,. former cricketers too," Tamim said. "Every stakeholder in Bangladesh cricket will be respected. It was maybe lacking in the BCB in the last one and a half years. We have to come together and fix this damaged reputation of Bangladesh cricket."

Tamim also vowed transparency in BCB's affairs after years of criticism of the administration.

"I want to ensure maximum transparency. I am sure that all of us at the board are not going to do anything controversial. We want to work with full honesty. I am sure we will make mistakes,. I look forward to seeing how quickly we rectify those mistakes," he said.

Tamim said that he felt a great sense of responsibility as the full-time BCB chief. "There is no extra feeling that I have become something really big. It is a massive responsibility. I have spoken about so many things about the cricket board for the last few years. so now I feel that this is the time when I have to prove myself to everyone."