The Bangladesh Cricket Board has retained a flicker of hope over hosting the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the wake of violent protests that have seen the imposition of an emergency by the country’s interim government. The board has written to the Bangladesh Army Chief of Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman on Thursday seeking security assurance for the conduct of the tournament, which is currently scheduled to begin on September 27 with the warm-up games.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) meanwhile has been closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and has even weighed up other host options and in the event of the tournament being moved out, is likely to opt for a country in a similar time zone as Bangladesh. India, UAE and Sri Lanka fit its requirement.
On Thursday (August 8), Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government was appointed to run the country’s affairs till fresh elections are conducted. Following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’ departure from the country, several board directors, including BCB president Nazmul Hassan, were also forced to leave Bangladesh given they were backed by Hasina’s party, Awami League.
However, some other directors of the board continue to reside in Dhaka and retain hope with regards to hosting the marquee event.
“We are trying to host the tournament,” Iftekhar Ahmed Mithu, BCB’s Umpire Committee chairman, told Cricbuzz. “To be honest there are not too many among us present in the country and on Thursday (August 8) we have sent a letter to the Army Chief regarding assurance about the security of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup as we have only two months in hand,” Mithu told Cricbuzz on Thursday.
“ICC communicated with us two days back and we replied that we will come back to them shortly. Today after the [interim] government is formed, still we have to give them assurance of the security considering it cannot be given by the board or any anyone else apart from a law enforcement agency of the country and so we sent the letter today and after getting written assurance from them [the Army] we will inform the ICC,” he added.
Ten teams are scheduled to play 23 matches, over 18 days of the World Cup, at two venues in Bangladesh – the Sher-e- Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka and the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet – from October 3 to 20.
It is learnt that the ICC will take until August 10 before taking a decision on the venue of the tournament after assessing the conditions on-ground in Bangladesh.
