Pakistan tour decision delayed

"We are still working on it. We are considering a number of options now and we are taking a bit of time for that. Hopefully we will be able to make a decision in the board meeting we will have on January 12. After that we can make it public."

Jalal Yunus

BCB media committee chairman

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) could not give a clear stance on Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of Pakistan later this month, keeping the fate of the originally scheduled tour of two Tests and three T20Is hanging in the balance, despite the BCB president saying on Wednesday that a decision would be reached by yesterday. 

After the impromptu board meeting on Wednesday, BCB President Nazmul Hassan said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had countered the BCB’s offer of playing just the three T20Is with an offer of playing the two Tests first and then rescheduling the T20Is for later. PCB was more eager to host Tests with the ongoing World Test Championship in mind.

The BCB was supposed to make a decision regarding the matter -- whether to stick to their original decision of playing just the T20Is or to consider PCB’s offer of playing the two Tests first and push the T20Is to a later date -- today.

“We are still working on it. We are considering a number of options now an we are taking a bit of time for that. Hopefully we will be able to make a decision in the board meeting we will have on January 12. After that we can make it public,” BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus at around 9:00pm told The Daily Star after media personnel waited the whole day for a clear decision from the board.

Meanwhile, it was learned that there were actually three options that the BCB was pondering. Option one was to stick to playing just the three T20Is, the second option was to play a single Test alongside three T20Is and the last option was to agree to the PCB’s offer of playing the two Tests first.

The BCB had earlier mentioned that they would prefer a short tour and hence wanted to play just T20Is, and that too only if the board could form a good squad. However, most of the players were reported to have consented for the tour -- Mushfiqur Rahim being the exception. For now, the uncertainty regarding the tour continues and it might end only on Sunday if the board can come to a decision just six days before their scheduled date of departure for the tour.