Bangladesh want to play three-match T20I series in Pakistan before Test series

Bangladesh are slated to tour Pakistan for a T20I and Test series in January-February next year but the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are still reluctant to send their team to Pakistan for a full tour. Before agreeing to play the Test series in Pakistan, the BCB wants to play the three-match T20I series.

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BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury stated that they are ready to play the three-match T20I series in Pakistan as the players and coaching staffs needs to assess the conditions before giving the green signal to play the Test series there. Earlier, BCB had proposed the idea of a split series with the T20Is to be played in Pakistan and the Test series at a neutral venue. However, the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani clearly stated that they were not ready to host the Test series at a neutral venue.

Nizamuddin accepted the fact that as a cricketing nation, Pakistan will definitely want to resume full-fledged cricketing ties. However, as a visiting nation, they must be fully assured about the security, especially given the fact that most of the support staffs and coaching staffs of Bangladesh are foreigners.

Speaking on the same, BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said:

"Naturally, Pakistan would like to see that international cricket resumes there in a full-fledged manner, and probably that is the reason they have said all those things. You all know there is something called match environment. At the same time, there are players and team management staff, and (members of) our team management staff are from abroad.

"And we have to discuss with them regarding staying there for a long period of time before taking a decision. And so we proposed to play three T20Is because if we play there for a shorter period of time, then everyone can do a proper assessment that includes players and team management, so we have given them the proposal thinking in this line," he added.

Cricbuzz has reported that the foreign coaches are not ready to travel to Pakistan. However, BCB feels that they can convince them if PCB agrees to organize all the matches at a single venue.

"We have proposed one venue considering the movement and duration as we prefer to play in one venue."

The BCB is expected to take independent opinion from the ICC which they will provide to the match officials. However, it is highly improbable to have an impact on their eventual stance regarding the Pakistan tour.