BCB to spend a staggering budget for Lanka tour
Image : Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh team’s upcoming Sri Lanka tour will be something more than any general cricketing tour because the three-match Test series during the corona pandemic period will be a podium of experience gathering tour along with making a comeback tour for them to international cricket after a long layoff.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), the players and support staff as well have to pay a staggering price for it because the BCB has to spend a staggering amount of money to make the tour successful.
The cricketers have to understand it but if they are not dedicated to cricket and play their best cricket, it’ll be a contrary thing for Bangladesh Cricket. Along with that, they have to give more time in camp and game in Dhaka-Colombo, if they become boring and create a discomfortable situation in the team, it’ll bring nothing blessing for the team and the country as well.
In the current context, the professional cricketers have to cope with this tough situation. England, West Indies and Pakistan’s cricketers can be examples in this case. Jot Root and his company are segregated from their family for the last few months in the plea of quarantine and games.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had to spend a huge sum of money to run the international games during the pandemic period. In the interest of the country’s cricket, the BCB has to spend a lump some money centering the Sri Lanka tour.
It’s learnt from the close source of the BCB that they may need around four-five crore taka to meet up the expense of the tour.
Bangladesh is likely to tour Sri Lanka for the Test series on September 23 or 24, one month before the start of the series. Prior to their departure, a brief practice camp will be held for which the board has planned a three-phase corona test for the players and support staff.
As per the guidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC), it is needed to hold a corona test for the ground staff.
The ECB was able to organize the series successfully by following the process of the bio-secure bubble. Players and coaching staff have to accommodate in the hotel. They may need to hire a chartered plan to travel there for which they have needed to spend Tk 1.5 crore.
It’s been compulsory for the Bangladesh team to test COVID-19 after reaching Colombo, the capital city of the island nation. COVID-19 test might be done prior to the outset of the series. This time the High Performance (HP) team will travel with the national team during the Lanka tour.
It’ll be a historically expensive tour for Bangladesh as an extended contingent of 65-70 including 25-30 coaching and supporting staff will make the tour to simplify the overall tour and practice situation. As per the bilateral deal with the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the BCB will bear the expense of the entire camp for the 21 days.
The fare of the five-star hotel in Colombo may take $150 per day. They have to spend $10,500 each day for a single room of 70-man contingent. The total fare in the 21-day practice schedule will be estimated at $2,20,500 (Tk1.83 crore). They have to spend behind the ground beside the regular expense and local transport for the players and support staff.
It’s obviously understood that the sum of money in a 45-day tour may stand at around four-five crore taka. The estimation has been gotten from the BCB sources after holding talks. But the BCB is trying their best to lessen the expense as much as possible.
The question may be raised about the rationality behind spending so much money for just a three-match Test tour. The reality is that there was a need to play such a series during the period of the coronavirus pandemic because there was an apprehension to decrease the standard of the cricketers in international level.
The cricketers got to understand it after returning to the cricket field for practice after a five-month corona-enforced break.
The biggest thing is that the players would stay out of cricket at least 10 months if the BCB could not reschedule the tour with the SLC. Meanwhile, England, West Indies, Ireland and Pakistan have already returned to cricket. Australia will also come back with their England tour.
India is organizing the popular domestic franchise-based league Indian Premier League (IPL). Sri Lanka started their domestic First Class Cricket League as the coronavirus situation is under their control. The BCB would be segregated from the cricket world if the series would not take place.
