BCB surprised at PCB decision to call off tour

The PCB said it was cancelling this year’s tour because Bangladesh had not shared with a return visit

Dhaka Tribune

The BCB expressed surprise at Pakistan’s decision to call off their tour of Bangladesh in July-August this year. BCB’s chairman of the media and communications committee however, said they are yet to receive official confirmation from the PCB.

“We are really surprised. Even a month ago we knew that the tour was on. There was a discussion between both board chiefs (Nazmul Hasan and Shaharyar Khan) during this week’s ICC meeting in Dubai. This upcoming series was ours to host, in accordance with the FTP (Future Tours Programme),” said Jalal on Thursday.

“In 2015, the two boards went into a deal according to which we were supposed to play two series in the following two years in Bangladesh,” he added.

According to the board director, Bangladesh don’t want to play in Pakistan and are willing to stick to the previous FTP.

“There was even a financial issue, which was dealt with at the time. They said they wanted to play here (Bangladesh) till 2017. They wanted Bangladesh to play two T20Is in Pakistan before continuing the series here. We don’t want to play there. We want to stick to our schedule, according to which the whole series was supposed to be played in Bangladesh,” explained Jalal.

Jalal informed that they got to know about Pakistan’s decision to call off the Bangladesh tour through media.

“If the series does get officially cancelled, we have to go into discussions with them. We have cleared the financial issues so there’s no need to talk about those things now. We haven’t heard anything from them in official correspondence. We heard it through media that they want to cancel the tour,” he said.

The last time Bangladesh toured Pakistan was in 2007-08, for five ODIs. Since then, Pakistan have toured Bangladesh twice, in 2011-12 and 2015.

The PCB said it was cancelling this year’s tour because Bangladesh had not shared with a return visit. If the tour is finally called off, Bangladesh will have a break in July as there are no fixtures announced yet after the 2017 Champions Trophy.

However, there is a proposed home series against Australia in late August after the CA postponed its FTP tour, which was scheduled for October, 2015.

Pakistan call off tour of Bangladesh

Reuters

Pakistan Cricket Board has called off their scheduled cricket tour of Bangladesh this year, Shaharyar Khan has said.

Bangladesh last toured Pakistan in 2007-08. Pakistan has since traveled to Bangladesh in 2011 and 2015 and were scheduled to play two tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 International in July and August in the South Asian country.

Khan said Bangladesh had failed to reciprocate Pakistan’s visits with the Bangladesh Cricket Board turning down an invitation to play two T20 internationals in Pakistan.

“We had spoken about the possibility of hosting them (Bangladesh in Pakistan) this year,” the PCB chairman told ESPNcricinfo.

He added: “Pakistan have now toured Bangladesh twice without them reciprocating, and we feel we cannot tour Bangladesh for the third straight time. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the tour, and will explore another window in the next year or so.”

At least 10 gunmen fired on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team in 2009 with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach, and killing eight locals.

Since then, Pakistan has been forced to play most of its ‘home’ games in the United Arab Emirates.