Won’t force players to tour Pakistan: Hassan
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan yesterday informed that the board would not force cricketers to visit Pakistan even if they received security clearance for the upcoming tour.
The board is still awaiting security clearance to tour Pakistan but Hassan said that even if they received clearance, the BCB would take consent from cricketers and members of the team management.
“We cannot force our players to go to Pakistan. If any player doesn’t want to go, he will not go. We are not going to pressure anyone. I don’t think it’s time to talk about a replacement team as it will depend on the situation,’’ Hassan told reporters in Mirpur yesterday.
BCB had sent the national women’s team and the Bangladesh under-16 team to tour Pakistan earlier this year after a delegation from the Bangladesh government recently visited the country for a security assessment and gave the green signal.
“We have applied to the government to know whether we will get security clearance for the Pakistan series. Two of our teams visited Pakistan recently. One is the women’s team and other is the boy’s team. We are yet to get clearance for the national team, but if you ask me about security, it should be the same whether it is the under-12 or the national team. We are assuming that we will get security clearance but we are yet to receive it. When we receive it, we can inform [the media] of our decision.
“After security clearance, it will be the opinion of the cricketers. We want to hear who wants to go or who doesn’t. There are lot of matters including the board. After getting the clearance we will sit to discuss about these things. We hope that we can make a final decision within next four to five days,” he said.
Comments