Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon on Wednesday dismissed outright any idea of cricket’s resumption or touring Sri Lanka in near future, arguing that the country’s current situation doesn’t let them to discuss this issue as of now.
“There is no discussion in this regard [when the cricket will return to the ground],” he said while handing over cheques for donation to State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel at NSC conference room for the Covid- 19-affected vulnerable players.
“I can’t give any specific date now when we can resume cricket-whether it is in July or August … it’s totally uncertain at this moment,” the BCB boss said.
The country’s cricket has been suspended for an indefinite time following the first round of Dhaka Premier League (DPL) on March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Recently the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB) has urged the BCB to restart the DPL in June, considering the league is only earning source of the most of the cricketers in Bangladesh.
But several directors of BCB ruled out any possibility of resuming the cricket in June as the government is yet to make any decision in this regard.
The Sri Lanka Cricket Board, meanwhile, showed their interest to host Bangladesh for the scheduled fixture in July, given the country is less affected by the Covid-19. As of today, Sri Lanka reported nine deaths and 1027 infections from the deadly virus.
But the BCB president wants to observe what ICC and other countries do to restart cricket in their country.
“The upcoming T20 World Cup might be deferred. We’re to know whether the ICC events could roll onto the ground due to the Covid-19 situation. Some of our series were postponed and now we have to reschedule it. A haphazard situation is prevailing all around,” he added.
“Sri Lanka wants to host us but it is tough to take a decision whether we should send our players there in short time. There is a matter of practice and others for which we should restart cricket in our country first. At this moment the situation in Sri Lanka is good but you can’t give any guarantee that the situation will be same after one month,” he remarked.
Papon said they will further asses the situation before taking any decision regarding the Sri Lanka tour.
“We’ll observe the situation … we’ll see what ICC and ACC do, what other countries do and after which we’ll take the decision,” he concluded.
