BSS, New Delhi :
Bangladesh will finally be playing a Test match on Indian soil this year, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said on Monday.
Hours before catching a flight to Dubai to attend an ICC Executive Board meeting on Wednesday, Hassan revealed that Bangladesh would play a Test this winter, most probably at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Hassan said an agreement with the BCCI to this effect could be signed during the ICC meeting.
Bangladesh have never played a Test in India, but have their eye on Kolkata as a venue.
“We’re trying to play a Test match in India this year. To start with, one Test match [is to be played] in India this year. The dates will be given once we go for the ICC meeting in Dubai,” Hassan told Mail Today in an interview.
“I have heard that the BCCI has nominated Srinivasan for this meeting.”
India and Bangladesh have played seven Tests since 2000 all in Bangladesh. Hassan hinted that in the coming years the frequency of matches between the neighbours would increase.
“What we are discussing is that we’ll go there [India] this year. And we’ll play a full series in 2015 and 2016, with India coming here one year and we going there the next. We talked about 2015, but they will have to see their schedule and come back to us. We’ve decided that, and most probably we’ll sign a contract after this ICC Board meeting,” he said.
The son of late Bangladesh President Zillur Rahman, Hassan said the BCB’s preference would be to play in Kolkata.
“Kolkata would be fine because we can then send a lot of Bangladesh spectators to watch the game. That’s what our discussions have been about,” he revealed.
Hassan, also a member of Parliament, said that the Indian team would tour Bangladesh for an One-day International series in June.
“This year, India is coming to Bangladesh for three ODIs,” he said.
“That is scheduled for June, but the final dates have to be finalised. We will finalise the dates in Dubai.”
Since India’s first match on the tour to England starts on June 26, the ODI series in Bangladesh could be played before that.
On the financial and structural changes effected in the ICC, Hassan said that those didn’t worry the BCB.
“To me, it was not a big issue,” he said.
“IDI [ICC Development International] is becoming IBC [ICC Business Company] and F&CA [Financial & Commercial Affairs Committee] is becoming Ex-Co.
Their functions would be the same; the changes are only in the names. The only major change I see is that now the ICC will have a chairman, which we didn’t have so far.”
“We were not that much concerned because from what had been presented [draft position paper] we found out that we would also be getting more [money] than what we were getting,” he pointed out.
