The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has proposed the BCB to hold the third match between Asia XI and Rest of the World XI at the new-look Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium in Motera of Gujarat City to mark the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The stadium is set to be one of the largest in the world with a capacity of around 1,10,000 and India is keen to unveil the stadium with the match. The first two matches, which will see a galaxy of world stars, will be held in Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon said the BCCI had already expressed their interest to hold a match but they are yet to give any formal proposal.
“It is true that they gave a proposal but it is not formal yet. It is in primary stage as of now. They said if the stadium gets ready by the time the series is scheduled for, they are keen to play a match to mark Bangabandhu’s birth centenary,” Papon said here on Thursday.
Quoting BCCI Joint Secretary Jayesh George, several Indian newspapers said that Pakistani players will not be invited in this series while five current India national players including captain Virat Kohli will be part of Asia XI.
“What we are aware of is that there will be no Pakistan players in the Asia XI. That is what the message is, so, there is no question of both countries coming together or picking one over the other. Sourav Ganguly will decide the five players who will be a part of the Asia XI,” Jayesh George said.
When asked, Papon said nothing like this is yet to be discussed.
“Nothing is discussed on this issue. This is the match between Asia XI and the Rest of the World XI so the players who will be available will play here. We didn’t say anything like this that Pakistan players won’t play,” Papon said.
“But the thing might be such that Pakistan is yet to reply following our request to send players for the series because the series coincides with the Pakistan Super League (PSL) while other boards had already replied.”
“The PCB said us to change the time but it is not possible for us because the birthday of Bangabandhu is March 17. So the government gave us the time to arrange the matches from March 18-22. The government has other plans and they have other time slots. So it is impossible for us to change the schedule. We informed this to PCB after which they didn’t give any response,” Papon concluded.
