Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka postponed
Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka for three-match Test series was postponed due to the indifference regarding quarantine period issue between the two boards.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon made the announcement on Monday, saying the terms given by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) was impossible to accept, reports BSS.
He said the BCB asked the SLC to reschedule the series in a convenient time when there will be no scope of giving such terms and conditions. The three-match series was the part of ICC Test Championship.
“What I said was that it is not possible to play a Test championship according to the guidelines they have given,” Papon said today, announcing the postponement of the series.
As per the health protocol set by Sri Lanka, everyone entering the Island nation would have to stay quarantine for 14 days but BCB urged Sri Lanka to cut the period by half and allow the team to train during quarantine. However Sri Lanka was unable to relax the terms, leading to postponement of the series.
“Their [Sri Lanka’s] cricket board, the sports ministry tried a lot. We sent our minimum demand. They agreed on all but one. But the one that they could not agree on is the important one which is the 14-day quarantine. Usually we take quarantine and isolation as two things. Quarantine means one cannot leave the home as a precaution while isolation is applicable for COVID-19 positive who can’t leave his room. The meaning varies country to country. What we understand, Sri Lanka wants us to be isolated for 14 days, which is not possible.”
The BCB chief said the 14-day strict quarantine would affect players’ psychologically, something which could affect their performance.
“It [14-day isolation] will be a setback for their fitness and performance. It will take a long time to get back to normal life from the mental disorder that will arise for 14-day quarantine. We have already said that it is not possible to play in this situation,” he said.
“Everyone entering the country is required to follow 14-day strict quarantine, this is not only for us. That’s the system of their country at this moment. They have informed us and we also told them in this situation it is not possible for us to tour there. We will play when the situation is good. That’s it,” Papon concluded.
