Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) increased its security at home of cricket Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) area from Wednesday to avoid any unexpected incident.
The BCB security team is allowing the vehicles in only through the main gate of SBNCS compound while people through the pocket gates.
On Wednesday, BCB officials, journalists and even cricketers like Mashrafe Bin Motraza had to face security team before entering the SBNCS.
BCB chief security co-coordinator Mohammad Ali told media, “Security level has been increased in the stadium area to avoid any unexpected incident….We are standing firm on security issue.”
“We’ve taken the step considering the safety of cricketers, BCB officials and journalists and it will remain unchanged here from now,” Ali replied to a query.
No doubt, in the wake of Gulshan attack, BCB don’t want to take any risk ahead of England’s tour to Bangladesh for two Tests and three ODIs in October.
In their third multi-format tour to the country, England are likely to arrive in Dhaka on September 30 and will start their campaign with a warm-up one-day match in Fatullah on October 4.
The first two ODIs will be played on October 7 and 9 at the SBNCS in Mirpur. The teams will travel to Chittagong for the third.
The first Test is scheduled to begin on October 20 in Chittagong while the second Test will be held in Dhaka from October 28.
Last year, Australia had postponed their tour of Bangladesh based on their government’s security advice and earlier this year they had pulled out of their Under-19 World Cup participation hosted by Bangladesh for the same reasons.
After the Gulshan attack, , the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said they will follow government advice – and guidance from their highly regarded head of security Reg Dickason – to decide whether the tour will take place as planned. England are due to fly out on September 30.
Twenty-two people, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian national and two police officials, were killed as terrorists attacked Holey Artisan Bakery at the city’s Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1.
In a rescue operation in the morning on July 2, a commando team of the Army rescued 13 hostages.
BCB president Nazmul Hassan said he understood the reaction to the attack but hoped that the tour would still go ahead.
“I have seen England’s reaction, which is quite normal. We would have done the same thing if we were in their position…… It is hard to say which place is safe now. Safety can be an issue in England after three months. We will strengthen our security. If we can ensure that, cricket should not be a problem.”
Earlier on July 10, BCB’s chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury categorically rejected any talk of playing England at a neutral venue should they pull out of their scheduled tour of Bangladesh in October following England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan’s opinion that “neutral venues” may be ‘feasible if it came to that’ after the Gulshan attacks.
