Meeting, after meeting, the last meeting, then again another meeting!
That’s all we have heard daily about the upcoming Bangladesh and Pakistan series. But after so many so-called meetings, finally, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has made the decision. And as expected, it is a big no! The BCB announced that they are not ready right now for the Bangladesh Pakistan test series because of security concerns.
In a media briefing in Dhaka, the president of BCB Nazmul Hasan has said, the government had told the board, it could go ahead with a tour of Pakistan but to keep it short due to the Middle-East tensions.
Source: Tribune
“We are clear cut, but let’s see how they react,” Hassan said. “As far as security is concerned, T20 is a better option. They should be happy that we still want to go to play T20s. We just wanted to reschedule [of the Tests], not saying we won’t tour. This is the best thing we can offer to Pakistan.”
Bangladesh Is All Set For T20I But Not For Test
As we can clearly understand by the statement of the BCB president, the Bangladeshi team is only willing to play a T20 international series. But they do not agree on the test series. Currently, the news is not official, as it only broke from the media. However, it is expected that they will now speak to the official board of Pakistan about the decision.
Moreover, the Pakistan Cricket Board has not reacted yet to BCB’s announcement because they did not communicate officially. Though, they will definitely respond strongly because the reason behind it is not valid at all. Prior to this, the Bangladeshi officials had requested PCB to play one test in Pakistan, and the other one in Bangladesh. But the idea was rejected by the Pakistan Cricket Board and they also ruled out the possibility of hosting the test series at a neutral venue.
BCB Seeks Help Of ICC Chairman
Amid all, the BCB president will now be going to Dubai to discuss with ICC chairman Shashank Manohar about the possible implications of skipping the test series against Pakistan. While PCB tries its best to make it happen as the two matches are part of the ICC Test Championship.
As the drama continues since the agreement, previously, the head coach of Bangladesh Russell Domingo had already said that he would come to Pakistan if the team was touring the country.
Apparently, no one is happy with the behavior of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. After their announcement, the head coach of Pakistan cricket team Misbah-ul-Haq had also shown disappointment at Bangladesh’s decision.
He said, “There is no excuse at this stage and making security a pretext is lame, because when international tours are happening, teams (are) coming and playing here, even you are agreeing to play T20 and refusing Test is something beyond my understanding. I don’t see any reason. To me, it’s just an excuse and nothing else.”
