Bangladesh Cricket

BCB set to loose Tk 25 million if Asia Cup is cancelled

Online Desk

18 Jul 20 14:43:28

Image : Collected

|| CF Correspondent ||

While Bangladesh witnessed the suspension of their bilateral home and away series one after another in the wake of the contagion of the dreaded coronavirus pandemic, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) then sets its sights on the mega events of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International Cricket Council (ICC).

The BCB was preparing their strategies and advanced targeting those two multi-nationals extravaganza events, the first of which was scheduled to host by Pakistan though the schedule of it is yet to fix or release but the second one was ICC T20 World Cup which was slated to be held in Australia in October-November window.

ACC was also waiting for a good result but finally it did not happen as the apex body of Asian cricket has to suspend its fifteen edition not to see any downward trend of the corona situation in Asia and out of Asia.

The probable date of the Asia Cup, which was all set to play in T20 format prior to the Down Under T20 World Cup, was September 4 and Pakistan were slated to host the edition. As the event is not going to take place this year for which the BCB will face a staggering financial loss of US$ three million or Tk 25 crore as the Asia Cup is not held any longer.

The words has resonated with BCB Chief Executive Officer (ECO) Nizamuddin Chowdhury as he said if Asia Cup is postponed, they will not get Tk three million as participating fee money

Cricket in Bangladesh remained shut down since March 26 due to the deadly scenario of the corona pandemic for which all types of national and international tournaments and series have got postponed.

However, competitive cricket in the international arena has returned to the field after a 117-day-long hiatus. Braving the highly contagious virus fears, England and West Indies have been playing a three-Test series, the first of which won by West Indies and went 1-0 up thrashing the hosts England.

Both the teams are now clashing for the second Test. Pakistan are the second overseas team, who already went to England to play a three-Test series and as many T20Is against Three Lions.

Seeing all these games, ACC-the apex body of the Asian cricket entity was waiting. But the ACC could not decide to hold the event as the situation in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan- the three major cricketing Asian nations were not good.

Since the initial stage, there was a deep apprehension about holding the event because India were not willing to play on Pakistan soil. That is why Pakistan wanted to host India’s matches in Dubai.

In the meantime, the COVID-19 situation takes a terrible shape which makes the future of the event doubtful. However, the island nation Sri Lanka expressed their keen interest in hosting the event. But the ACC has not officially made any comment on the matter yet.

The day before the ACC announced the suspension, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly said there would be no Asia Cup this year after which the future of the Asia Cup became clear. All the participating countries especially Bangladesh will financially suffer as the event is not taken place.

BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that the participating nation will lose Tk. 25 crore as a participating fee money if the event gets cancelled for good.

“The event was not cancelled. It got postponed. As a result, there is still the possibility of rolling the event to the field. If not for some reason, then all the countries will face financial loss. Countries usually receive a participating fee of three million [Tk 25 crore in Bangladeshi currency]. We will not get this money now,” Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.

Not only Bangladesh, but Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan also will lose a good amount of money.

Keeping the Asia Cup ahead, Afghanistan have been training for so long behind closed doors. Bangladesh were also preparing to resume their practice session from October. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) prepared a discrete training module allowing their players to hold individual and small group practice sessions. However, India did not start their practice.

The corona situation in Asian countries is terrible. The number of corona patients in Bangladesh is 1 lakh 96 thousand 323 and the number of deaths is 2 thousand 496, while the number of infected patients in India is 9 lakh 74 thousand 737 and the death toll is 24 thousand 976 people.

There are 2 lakh 57 thousand 914 patients and 5 thousand 426 dead in Pakistan. In Sri Lanka, there were 2,682 deaths, 11 deaths and in Afghanistan, the list of coronavirus patients is 35,070 and the death toll is 1,113.