Tour in Sri Lanka not possible now: BCB president

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon said that at the moment, there is slim possibility that the Tigers will tour in Sri Lanka.

“There is just one problem: in the wake of the situation in Sri Lanka now, there is no possibility that we can go there at the moment to play any bilateral series,” Papon said in Dhaka on Saturday, reports BSS.

According to latest Future Tour Programme (FTP), Bangladesh is scheduled to play three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in December. But the dates were brought forward in July just after the completion of the World Cup because of BCB’s plan to hold the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in December.

The new dates for the three ODIs were on July 25, 27 and 29.

However, a serial blast in Sri Lanka that left 300 people dead last month forced BCB to rethink about the decision to tour there. A Pakistan Under-19 tour had already been indefinitely postponed following the incident.

Bangladesh itself postponed New Zealand tour after a terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques.

“Everything is okay regarding the FTP but the situation is such that we can’t go there. This is not applicable for Bangladesh only, but also for other countries,” Papon added.

“Secondly, Sri Lanka’s president himself said, there is a possibility of terrorist attack again. But if the situation becomes okay and if they can assure us about the security and if we get the security clearance from our intelligence, we’ll see whether we can tour there,” the BCB president concluded.