Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan (C) speaks during a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. — BCB photo
Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday stuck to their earlier stance of just wanting to play Twenty20s in Pakistan, dismissing their Pakistani counterparts’ proposal of playing the Test series in the neighbouring country.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan announced their decision to the press after a meeting of the Board of Directors in Mirpur.
Nazmul cited the recent tension in the Middle East between Iran and the USA as the main reason behind not wanting to stay in Pakistan for an extended period as the government had given the board permission to tour the country only for a short period.
‘The current state in the Middle East is definitely different than other times. So considering escalating tension in that particular region, they [the government] have told us to keep the tour as short as possible,’ Nazmul said.
‘They are saying to play the three Twenty20s as quickly as possible in a short period. Later, if the situation improves, we can play the Test matches. So this is what we have received and we are going to communicate the same thing to Pakistan Cricket Board,’ he added.
The BCB had earlier made a similar proposition of just wanting to play Twenty20s in Pakistan, but the PCB refused their offer.
Nazmul said that the situation has now changed and this time they are only following the government’s decision, unlike previously, when they themselves had come up with the proposition of playing only Twenty20s.
Nazmul also clarified that that they were not against the return of cricket in Pakistan and cited a number of reasons for wanting to play only Twenty20s in the country.
‘We are not against cricket in Pakistan, we want cricket to be held in all countries and we want to support them. If we had opposed it we would said that we won’t even play Twenty20s.
‘T20 and Test are different. If you see one by one, firstly, for three T20s we have stay 120 overs in the field, for one Test in five days 450 overs, so lot of difference, so security wise T20 is a better option.
‘Number two you have to see another thing. We are not going there for many years, so all of sudden when we go naturally there remains a fear. From that perspective, after going once and coming back confidence will rise. I think they should understand,’ he said.
Nazmul revealed that he had discussed the matter with PCB chief Ehsan Mani at least three times, dismissing the threat of Pakistan to take BCB to ICC.
Nazmul will be flying to Dubai today to inform the International Cricket Council Chairman Shashank Manohar about the possible implication of skipping the Test series against Pakistan.
The BCB president was also confident that if Pakistan agreed to host Bangladesh for three Twenty20s all players would make the trip. He said Mushfiqur Rahim was the only player to express his reluctance but according him it was not a complete denial.
In the BCB meeting, the board also decided to raise the match fees for Test matches by 50 per cent from current Tk 4 lakh. Nazmul said they board also agreed to offer national players a separate contract for Test and limited overs but no list was approved in the meeting.