Published: 10:59 AM, 01 October 2026
BCB decides to explore untapped cricket talents in hills
BCB director Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir said the “biggest obstacle is not lack of their athletic ability but a lack of opportunity” and so the country's cricket structure must go beyond waiting for talented players from the hills to make their way on their own to established cricket centers.-BCB
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to explore untapped cricket talents in three southeastern hill districts (CHT) as the rugged terrain and lack of infrastructure visibly kept the sport beyond reach of many youngsters in the region, officials said.
“The board is mulling ways to onboard more players from ethnic minority communities into mainstream cricket system,” BCB director Sirajuddin Mohammad Alamgir said.
Alamgir, a strong advocate of the initiative, said the “biggest obstacle is not lack of their athletic ability but a lack of opportunity” and so the country's cricket structure must go beyond waiting for talented players from the hills to make their way on their own to established cricket centers.
“Instead, the system needs to take the game to them as it's not possible for them to overcome all hurdles to come to the city and play cricket,” he said.
BCB officials said their proposals include creating residential facilities in Chattogram, expanding training opportunities and providing financial support to promising players from remote areas of the Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) to enable them to develop their skills in a professional environment Cricket experts said children in Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari hill districts often grow up in rugged terrain, geographic isolation having limited access to sports facilities while reaching a cricket ground often emerge as a major challenge for them.
Former BCB coach in Rangamati Mohitosh Dewan, himself a member of a minority ethnic community in the hills, knows that reality well.
“It's extremely tough to manage playing cricket in the hill tracts. When life is undeniably tough, cricket is a luxury there,” Dewan said.
He said young players often need to overcome significant logistical difficulties simply to reach a field and in most cases they firstly need to cross a chain of hills and waterlogged areas before reaching a cricket field.
Dewan said the geographic feature of the CHT made cricket fundamentally different from some other sports which gained popularity among ethnic communities.
“The physical endurance developed by life in the hills has helped produce successful athletes in football, hockey and other disciplines, but cricket requires regular access to pitches, equipment, coaching and organized competition,” Dewan said.
Ethnic athletes have become prominent in several sports, with footballers such as Rituparna Chakma and Monika Chakma playing important roles in Bangladesh women's football while cricket, by contrast, so far produced only a handful of ethnic players in the country's organised system.
Champa Chakma became the first ethnic cricketer to represent Bangladesh women's cricket and later pursued a career as an umpire. Mohitosh Dewan played in the Dhaka Premier League in the 1990s before moving into coaching.
More recently, Anik Deb Barman and Leky Chakma have emerged through the BCB's age-group structure.
Their progress has given the BCB something which was missing for decades displaying visible examples that players from ethnic communities can enter the national cricket pathway if they are given the opportunity.
Anik, a 6-foot-3-inch Tripura fast bowler from Habiganj, has already reached Bangladesh's Under-19 preliminary setup. His route into cricket depicts the importance of access.
“We have 40 families in our community in the village. No one played cricket there and hardly have any interest in this sport,” Anik said.
He only received a serious opportunity after moving to Habiganj town, where a coach noticed him playing at school and helped pace his development.
