DHAKA: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has turned down an invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a tour before July this year.
In an attempt to bring international cricket back to the country, the PCB had invited Bangladesh for a two-match T20 series to take place later this year.
Pakistan are scheduled to tour Bangladesh in July and hoped to play host before their visit. The PCB has also asked the BCB to share part of the profits generated from their visit towards compensation for repeatedly refusing to tour Pakistan for six years.
The PCB hosted the Pakistan Super League T20 final in Lahore earlier on March 5 this year with a view to proving that the country could safely host cricket matches. A representative of the BCB attended the final.
However, claiming that security arrangements are still inadequate, the BCB has turned down the invite for the tour.
“We had a BCB security team visit Pakistan during the final of the PSL T20 last month. The reports were not satisfactory enough due to which we had to pull back. Even the ICC had a fact finding team visit the country and did not see any development as of yet,” BCB’s media and communications committee chairman Jalal Younus was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune.
ICC security adviser Sean Norris was present at the PSL final to assess the situation and security arrangements. He is expected to submit a report at the ICC board meeting being held later this month.
The BCB has said that it is willing to play the series at a neutral venue. However, the PCB does not consider it financially viable to host teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the UAE, which has been adopted for their home matches since the March 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore.
Bangladesh are now the fourth team in two years to turn down invitations to tour Pakistan; the others were West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe were the first nation to visit Pakistan after the attacks when they played a three-match ODI series and two-match T20 International series in 2015.