Tigers reluctant to travel to Sri Lanka in July
Image : Collected
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh is unlikely to tour Sri Lanka in due time for their scheduled three-match Test series against Sri Lanka as national players refused to travel during that time slot.
Bangladesh are scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka in the third week of July and are penciled in to play Tests in Colombo, Galle and Kandy- all part of ICC Test Championship.
BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury admitted that they are taking consent from players and members of the team management but refused to elaborate in detail about the meeting.
‘’We are taking our time regarding making a decision about the tour. We are talking with the players and members of the team managements to have their consent,’’ he said.
It was learned all of them unanimously refused to travel at that point of time during the teleconference with some leading cricketers of the country to know their mind regarding the Sri Lanka tour in July.
‘’Yes they are not interested to go,’’ said BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan.
It was learned that SLC had given BCB a revised proposal to host the series in September though the latter is yet to respond as they are not sure about the fate of the Asia Cup that is expected to be finalized in today’s meeting of the Asian Cricket Council.
BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan indicated that no one can guarantee that situation will improve in September and thus they are not committing right away.
‘’How can you say that things will improve by September,’’ questioned Akram.
‘’Whereas Sri Lanka is thinking of playing cricket we are yet to resume training at our own backyard. Thereafter we cannot say when the condition will improve. We cannot go there without proper preparation because it is a three-match Test series. The players are out of cricket for long time so after returning to cricket they will at least need 40 days of training comprised with one month skill training following 10 days fitness camp. So it will not be wise to say we can go in September,’’ he said.
"One thing you have to keep in mind that the government's instructions on travel, these things are also important. If only that country is alright then that will not be enough, the guidance of our government is also important," Nizamuddin reiterated. "We are observing the situation and how their government is tackling the situation and all that along with keeping an eye on what is the order of our government because we have to see all these things,’’ he said.
Though the report says that Sri Lanka is less affected by the coronavirus in the South-Asian part where they has 1,835 number of confirmed cases along with 11 death and 941 cases of recovery but the last 14 days record from 27 May to 7 June as per the corona tracker the cases are going upward day by day while on the other side the situation in Bangladesh is far worse than them.
Bangladesh till now has 65,769 confirmed cases with 888 death toll and 13,903 recovered and more than that after easing lockdown throughout the country on May 31 amid no signs of abatement in COVID-19 infections.
Sri Lanka has already started their practice from the 1 June. They have made a 13 player team and started practice creating a bio-safety bubble environment it is not the same in Bangladesh last week players like Mushfiqur Rahim and others asked for permission to go and have practice and have training facilities on the ground, initially BCB refuses to allow players to have practice as the risk is still high but then agreed to their request but that will not be an official practice session at indoor and in BCB academy but with strict protocol following the ICC guidelines but they haven't gave any official date about it.
When making decisions on those bilateral series it was like a straight forward decision for the Bangladesh Cricket Board [BCB] but it seems a matter of concern for them to make a decision on the Sri Lanka tour, though BCB hasn't said officially about going to the tour but the way they are taking time after time it seems that there are quite confused about taking a decision while in the process they are making it look one of the top agenda in their priority list.
What is more surprising is that despite while BCB has to give this much thought about going for the tour where India is not willing to go for their bilateral series in Sri Lanka, though it is not officially announced, considering the fact the coronavirus condition in India and Bangladesh are almost similar as both the country is still facing the pandemic effect by this deadly virus.
