BCB boss: Pakistan unlikely to tour Bangladesh

BCB president Nazmul Hasan said he and the board believe Pakistan are unlikely to tour Bangladesh in July-August this year given the current situation. The BCB chief informed that the board has already communicated the schedule of the series to the PCB but the outcome is quite likely to be negative. Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh came into jeopardy after PCB raised concerns recently. PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan claimed that his board is not willing to send a team, bearing in mind that Bangladesh have not paid a reciprocal visit to Pakistan in the last few years. Later, the PCB chief later pulled the plug on the trip, saying, “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." Despite communication over the schedule, the BCB boss thinks the series has no future. "I told earlier that they will not come to Bangladesh to play the next series. And so, we don't have to respond further. We have sent the schedule to PCB. My notion is that they will formally inform us that they will not tour Bangladesh," Nazmul told the media yesterday during his visit to Manikganj for the final of the Sheikh Russel Smriti Gold Cup Football Tournament. Considering Bangladesh’s tight international schedule this year, the BCB supremo said the board first needs to understand if it is possible or necessary to have a series to fill the gap in the calender created over Pakistan not touring the country. "We will go to England for the [2017] Champions Trophy in June. We'll talk with the players and the coaches. We have a very tight schedule and it should be taken into consideration," said Nazmul. The BCB chief said Australia coming over to Bangladesh for two Test matches this year in August-September is almost confirmed. "We're almost ensured that Australia will come. Everything is positive. The Cricket Australia president himself told me that he, along with his wife, will come to Bangladesh to watch the opening Test (in Chittagong)," said Nazmul. A CA security team is set to visit Bangladesh next week as part of the process to finalise arrangements for the side's tour and take a call on going ahead with the tour based on the report of the security team. As for now, Australia are cheduled to reach Dhaka on August 18 and start the tour with a three-day warm-up game in the port city from August 22 to 24. The first Test is scheduled from August 27 to 31, followed by the second Test from September 4 to 9 in Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.