Final decision on Pakistan tour today
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan Papon said on Wednesday that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) proposed them to play two-match Test series now and take part in the three-match Twenty20 series later.
Bangladesh are scheduled to tour Pakistan in January-February for a three-match T20 and two-match Test series, which is part of the World Test Championship.
Earlier, The BCB had proposed them to host the Test series in a neutral venue, while they were willing to send their team for the three-match Twenty20 series in Pakistan.
In reply, PCB had stated that they won't compromise with it after the BCB send the proposal as they were unwilling to play their home series in a neutral venue.
“We asked them to play Twenty20s but they proposed us to play Test matches. They said they will play the Twenty20 bilateral series before the Twenty20 World Cup in Pakistan,” Nazmul told reporters after a meeting with the players at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
“We informed them that we wanted to play three Twenty20s first and return back home. We told them that we might tour Pakistan later on, to play the Tests if we manage to reschedule the tour. But they are more interested in hosting Tests as it is part of the ICC Test Championship. They said they have no problem hosting three Twenty20s later on,” he said.
“We are yet to make the final decision on that. I hope we will make the final decision tomorrow (Thursday),” he said, adding that they are not sure what is in store for them in the ICC Test Championship if they don’t tour Pakistan.
Nazmul said that players and coaches are interested to play for a short stint apart from Mushfiqur Rahim.
“Mushfiqur never showed any interest to tour Pakistan. The other players said that they wanted a short tour. We have informed PCB about our players’ consent,” said Nazmul.
“We won’t get most of our coaches while our head coach is ready if it is a short tour (Twenty20 series),” he said.
Nazmul said that when he asked the players about making them available for PSL they have told him that just registering their name does mean they are playing in the PSL.
“I asked them about PSL and they said that just registering their name does not I ply they are playing in the PSL. They have to be picked first and later they require getting the NOC from us. So it’s a long way,” he concluded.
