Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will discuss their Pakistan counterpart to arrange the bilateral series between the two teams at any neutral venue if they fail to get the clearance from the government.
A delegate from Bangladesh government has recently visited Pakistan for security assessment but they are yet to confirm BCB for the tour.
“If we get the clearance from the government, we can start discussion with them [Pakistan],” BCB Cricket Operations chairman Akram Khan said here today.
“But we are yet to get the clearance as of now. Everything will depend on what the government wants. We will definitely sit with the player to take their opinion at the same [if the government gives clearance].”
“But if we don’t get the clearance from the government for any reason, we have to discuss on playing at neutral venue. If we get the clearance, then the thing will be different. So at this moment, we have to wait on the security report from the government.”
Akram said they are open to discuss on playing Test and T20 series separately in separate time with Pakistan.
Bangladesh’s women and youth team have already toured in Pakistan but the male national team’s tour will be a different matter, said Akram without elaborating.
The male team is scheduled to play two-match Test and three-match T20 International series against Pakistan in next February.
International cricket has already revived in the country since the attack on Sri Lankan national team bus in 2009.
While the likes of West Indies and Sri Lanka visited there for a short tour that only included ODI and T20 matches, Bangladesh in the past didn’t get the government’s consent to visit the place.
Bangladesh visited Pakistan for the last time in 2008, a series where Shakib Al Hasan established him as the world’s best all-rounder with his sparkling performance in both batting and bowling.
But after a gap of more than ten years, Test cricket will return to Pakistan as Sri Lanka will play their World Test Championship (WTC) matches in Rawalpindi and Karachi.
On Friday, Sri Lanka announced its 16-member squad for the upcoming Test series in Pakistan. The Dimuth Karunaratne led Lankan team will leave for Pakistan on December 8 for the series scheduled to start three days later.
Akram reiterated that there is nothing to do with the Sri Lanka’s tour as BCB will wait for the government’s suggestion.
“Who is going there is not the matter for us. If we get the clearance from government we’ll think about the tour. As I said earlier, at this moment we are waiting for the government’s suggestion,” he concluded.
