Jan 15,2020
Nazmul Hasan
Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan on Wednesday said that criticism over their decision to go to Pakistan in three phases to play in all three formats seems bizarre to him.
‘I don’t find any reason why they [critics] are saying this now. It looks totally bizarre to me,’ Nazmul told reporters in Dhaka upon his return from Dubai.
Bangladesh on Tuesday reached a consensus with Pakistan to play a bilateral series involving all three formats between January and April after initially wanting to play only a Twenty20 series.
International Cricket Council chairman Shashank Manohar brokered a deal between the two countries during a meeting between Nazmul and his Pakistani counterpart Ehsan Mani in Dubai.
Nazmul said he was not aware of Mani’s visit in Dubai adding that his meeting with the PCB chief was off-the-cuff.
‘I think we got what we wanted. From the very beginning I said in media we will comeback after T20s and go later for Test,’ said Nazmul.
‘The government advice was for short stay and play Test later considering the situation. We are in that process.’
Nazmul added they agreed to play an ODI, which was not part of original plan as they wanted to help Pakistan make up for their cost.
‘Their costs would increase significantly for hosting the series in three phases,’ said the BCB chief.
‘We also needed a practice match before playing in Pakistan. They proposed for (extra) T20, which would compensate them financially. We thought an ODI would be better for practice than T20.’
Bangladesh will now play three T20Is in Lahore from January 24-27 before returning to Pakistan for the first Test from February 7-11 in Rawalpindi. They will visit again to play an ODI in Karachi on April 3 and the second Test from April 5-9.
Speculation was ripe as Pakistan agreed to hand over the hosting rights of next Asia Cup to Bangladesh in September as part of the deal though BCB chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury was quick to dismiss it.
‘There is no relation between Asia Cup and the series. There was a discussion regarding the Asia Cup venue on the sideline of the meeting. Pakistan is the host of the tournament but they may not host it as India will not tour Pakistan,’ Nizamuddin told reporters.
‘Pakistan may give a proposal of hosting half of the matches in Pakistan and the matches of India could be hosted in Dubai or Malaysia. But it seems a little unrealistic as it will raise the cost and will make the tournament lengthy.
‘Of course, Pakistan will not want to see the Asia Cup not happening because they will then lose three million dollar. There will be a discussion about the venue on February during the ACC meeting. If we want to host the event, Pakistan may agree or disagree to our proposal,’ he added.
