"Becoming co-hosts of the 2011 Cricket World Cup is a great achievement in our sports history. So, definitely we want to arrange it at our number one venue. I don't mind if the matches are held anywhere else but I think BNS will be the proper place to host this kind of a big event," commented Asghar while talking to the reporters at the Zia International Airport on his return from Dubai.

"If you consider success, cricket is far ahead from the other sports in the country and you can't compare cricket with any other game, including football. Football is not at a stage where they can claim exclusive rights of the venue. So, what's wrong if we demand it despite a settlement," said the BCB chief during whose tenure the decision to switch cricket's home to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur from the BNS was taken.

Asghar also said that they mentioned the venue's name when they had made the joint bid along with three other countries from the subcontinent to host cricket's biggest extravaganza.

"You all know that we mentioned this stadium's name in the bid because it has a long tradition of the game where number of Test and one-day matches took place. Now people in the country will decide where the matches will be held," said Asghar making a U-turn from his previous stance.

It may worth mentioning that the long-standing tug-of-war between the authorities of cricket and football had been settled in October 2004 when State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman penned the historic decision fulfilling Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) demand to have exclusive rights of the all-purpose venue.

Understandably, the football authority was surprised by the BCB boss's desire and they found no reason to involve in further controversy over the 36,000-capacity venue at the heart of the city.

"Government owns all the grounds, so it's up to them what to do with the grounds. We federations have nothing to say. In the past when we wanted to host a tournament at the BNS we had to take the permission of the sports ministry first. I don't know whether the cricket board had done the formalities before submitting their bid for the World Cup," said BFF general secretary Anwarul Haque Helal.

"BCB general secretary (Mahbubul Anam) told me that they had to include the name of BNS and Fatullah Stadium as alternative venues because their first-choice Mirpur Stadium was yet to be completed. He also said that when the Mirpur Stadium would get the International Cricket Council's recognition, everything would fall into places," he said.

"I don't think there is any scope to create any confusion over the possession of the venue. Mirpur is under preparation exclusively for cricket," said Helal.