BCB shows the way, now the team must follow

Whether the Bangladesh team rises to the occasion or not, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has already earned full marks as far as organising the inaugural Test against India, commencing at the Bangabandhu stadium on Friday, is concerned.

Of course it is nothing new for the BCB to be organising major tournaments. The Asia Cup has been held here more than once, and it also successfully staged the Independence Cup in 1998, the ICC KnockOut tournament in the same year and the Asian Test Championship final last year. Still the country's inaugural Test is a very special occasion and fully aware of the traditional and heritage aspects of the event, the BCB geared itself up fully to make the occasion a gala one.

Last week, the BCB announced a 20 million taka budget to celebrate the historic occasion. According to the secretary of the BCB Syed Ashraful Huq, a budget of taka 2.12 crore has been earmarked for the successful conduct of the Test. ``We are expecting to earn more than four crore taka from different sponsors,'' he said after clinching the sponsorship deal with the Dutch Bangla Bank, the main sponsors for the Test. Despite the cost of hosting the special event, the board still expects to earn a profit of more than taka 1.5 crore at the end of the event. This figure however does not take into account the money to be paid to the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

A special event calls for a celebration and the committee has earmarked taka 70 lakhs for this purpose. Another 74 lakh taka would be spent on the Indian team and high profile dignitaries from across the world.

As part of the celebrations, there was a five day lead up to the event. The functions started on November 5 with the distribution of prizes to the winners of different local events including the first national league championship won by Chittagong. Besides, the Board also distributed prizes to the winners of the Dhaka leagues for the past five years. In joining cricket with the country's social conscience, the BCB organised a polio eradication programme on November 6. The next day there was a painting competition for kids and an exhibition of cricket related pictures since the country's independence which was on display at the National Sports Council gymnasium. And on November 8 the BCB honoured the individuals and organisations whose relentless efforts enabled Bangladesh cricket to attain Test status. On the same day a grand fireworks display was held and on Thursday evening the board is hosting a dinner which is likely to be attended by about 1500 invitees.

Speaking of invitees, the guest list for the Test is pretty impressive. The VIP's invited include former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya who played a very important role in Bangladesh's campaign for Test status, Sunil Gavaskar, Nasimul Ghani, Roger Knight, Lord Alexander, David Richards, Bob Merriman, AC Muthiah, Jaywant Lele, Kishore Rungta, Robin Marlar, Thilanga Sumathipala, Gordon Greenidge, Graham Dowling, Mohinder Amarnath, Lt Col Stevenson and John Jameson.

Keeping in mind the culture of the country, a theme song written by sports journalist Shahidul Azam and sung by Shuvra Dev will be played during the breaks of the Test match. Besides, a music video of the song, sponsored by Meril, will also be shown on Bangladesh television during its coverage of the match.

Oh yes, the BCB has left no stone unturned in making the occasion a grand success and there are people working round the clock to see that the organisation is smooth. Now if only Naimur Rahman and his boys can display the same zeal, dynamism and hard work, then we would be in for a humdinger of a match.