Tour to Sri Lanka not possible now: Hassan

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan stated that there was no way the board could afford to send the national team to Sri Lanka given the security situation in the country following the devastating Easter Bombings in Colombo last month.

Bangladesh were scheduled to tour Sri Lanka to play a three-match ODI series on July 25, 27 and 29 respectively. The board was also expected to send the Bangladesh 'A' team for a bilateral series in September this year.

However, the series of bombings that took place on April 21 in churches and hotels and killed more than 250 people put Bangladesh's tour to Sri Lana in doubt.

"There is only one problem with Sri Lanka: the kind of situation that is there, there's no question of going there. Not only Bangladesh, I don't think any team will play there," Nazmul told reporters yesterday.

He also said that Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena had said there could be more attacks in the near future. "The most concerning fact is that even their president has told us there is a possibility of another terrorist attack in Sri Lanka. As they have said that there is a possibility of a terrorist attack, we are not thinking about having a tour to Sri Lanka just now."

Nazmul added that the BCB was continuously monitoring the security situation in Sri Lanka and that they would take a final decision only after receiving security clearance.

"If the situation calms down, they assure us and our security team gives clearance, we will see. At the moment we don't have any plans of going there," he added.

The Bangladesh national team narrowly survived during the terror attack in the New Zealand mosque attacks of March 15 that killed 51 people.