The all important Asian Cricket Council ACC’s meeting will take place today in Sri Lanka, Colombo where the fate of hosting the Asia Cup for Bangladesh will be confirmed after issues about security were raised in the international media.
Bangladesh was earlier scheduled to host the 12th Asia Cup tournament in March this year after successfully hosting the previous Asia Cup in 2012, where Bangladesh lost to Pakistan in the final.
Bangladesh hosted the Asia Cup three times in 1988, 2002 and 2012 successfully but this time it will be a big challenge as the political unrest in the country have raised security concerns. A West Indies Under-19 side withdrew from their tour of Bangladesh after a bomb went off close to their hotel in Chittagong.
Meanwhile, the Indian media has reported that Pakistan may back out of the Asia Cup for security reasons, while according to the ACC rules. Sri Lanka have been selected as the alternative host for the event. Sri Lanka Cricket's secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said yesterday that they are ready to host the Asia Cup if the ACC wants another venue. The meeting today will decide on the matter and Sri Lanka have also expressed their willingness to host the T20 World Championship if needed.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)president Nazmul Hasan and the CEO of the board are already in Colombo to attend the important meeting and the CEO of the BCB Nizamuddin Chowdhury is confident of hosting the event. “We have already sent our security plans to the ACC and the boards of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and we are going to present our plans in the meeting. I don’t think there is any reason for Bangladesh not to host the Asia Cup and our plan is to give every team topsecurity,” he said.
Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in a home series before the Asia Cup. The series comprises two Tests, three ODI and two T20 internationals. Sri Lanka are expected to arrive on January 24 after the high commission of Sri Lanka assured the BCB CEO and gave the green signal for the tour on December 31.
Meanwhile, the other agenda of the meeting is to decide if Afghanistan will play in the Asia Cup. Previously, two other associate countries – Hong Kong and UAE – have participated in the Asia Cup.