Feast of home T20s for Tigers
Bangladesh will host Australia, England and New Zealand -- three of the top T20 sides in the world – this year ahead of the T20 World Cup, a high-placed official of Bangladesh Cricket Board confirmed yesterday.
Australia are likely to come here for three T20Is against the hosts in September while England and New Zealand, too, will come here to play white-ball cricket ahead of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in October-November in India, said the BCB official, adding that no tri-series involving any of these three teams has been planned as yet.
"We are working on it [hosting Australia]. No decision has been made yet. As it stands, Australia, England and New Zealand will tour Bangladesh before the T20 World Cup. That's how we have planned and so far, no final decision has been made on hosting a tri-nation series," BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters yesterday.
If Australia's tour does take place, it will be their first in Bangladesh since 2017 even though the Aussies will not be playing deferred Test series against Bangladesh during this tour. The Test series, scheduled for June last year, was deferred indefinitely in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The BCB CEO informed that the window available for Australia can only be used for one format and it made sense to play T20s ahead of the T20 World Cup.
"We had three Tests and two T20s against Australia. Now that we can fit in T20Is here, we are doing that. Instead of two, we are increasing the number to three T20Is. It doesn't mean we are trying to replace one [format] with the other. If there was time available to fit the Tests, we would have done that. Time slot available is either for three ODIs, three Tests or three T20s. So, we are only aiming for the T20Is. It is a good preparation for us before the T20 World Cup and also a great opportunity to play against such a high-profile team ahead of the tournament."
Following the end of the ongoing home series against West Indies, Bangladesh will have a 33-day window before leaving for New Zealand, which is scheduled to end on April 1.
The BCB CEO said that a window is available in April to host Sri Lanka. "There is a time slot in April when Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are both available. So we are trying to fit in two or three Tests of the Test championship in that slot."
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