Amid violent protests and the country’s interim administration declaring an emergency, the Bangladesh Cricket Board is holding onto optimism that it will host the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The board wrote to General Waker-Uz-Zaman, the Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Army, on Thursday, requesting assurances on security for the tournament’s conduct. The warm-up games are currently slated to start on September 27th.
If the tournament is shifted, the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has been closely following the situation in Bangladesh, is likely to choose a nation that has a similar time zone to Bangladesh. The ICC has also considered alternative host candidates, which include India, UAE, and Sri Lanka.
A temporary administration headed by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus was chosen on Thursday, August 8, to oversee national affairs until new elections are held. As a result of their support from Hasina’s Awami League party, several board directors, including BCB president Nazmul Hassan, were compelled to flee Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the nation. Nonetheless, a few other board directors still reside in Dhaka and harbor hopes of hosting the major event.
“We are trying to host the tournament,” Iftekhar Ahmed Mithu, BCB’s Umpire Committee chairman, told Cricbuzz. “To be honest there are not too many among us present in the country and on Thursday (August 8) we have sent a letter to the Army Chief regarding assurance about the security of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup as we have only two months in hand,” Mithu told Cricbuzz on Thursday.
“ICC communicated with us two days back and we replied that we will come back to them shortly. Today after the [interim] government is formed, still we have to give them assurance of the security considering it cannot be given by the board or any anyone else apart from a law enforcement agency of the country and so we sent the letter today and after getting written assurance from them [the Army] we will inform the ICC,” he added.
During the course of the 18-day World Cup, ten countries are scheduled to play 23 matches at two locations in Bangladesh: the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet and the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. The matches will take place between October 3 and October 20.
