BCB bins speculation about Australia series

Staff Correspondent

Despite the recent positive Covid-19 case in the series between Australia and West Indies, the Bangladesh Cricket Board believes that there is nothing to worry about the Aussies touring Bangladesh in early August.

Australia are supposed to tour Bangladesh for five twenty20 internationals between August 2 and August 9.

But a positive Covid-19 case saw the second one-day international between Australia and West Indies being suspended a few minutes before the first ball and all members involved in the match in isolation in the hotel.

It had put their Bangladesh tour in doubt as the Australians wanted a strict bio-security bubble protocol in Dhaka.

But BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury believes that what has happened in the Caribbean will not affect Australia’s decision of coming to Bangladesh for the T20I series.

“There is no reason for Australia to be not coming. A staff of the West Indies team tested positive, and thus they had to go through all the necessary protocols. It is a matter of Cricket Australia and Cricket West Indies, not ours. There is nothing to worry about for us,” Nizamuddin told The Business Post.

Bangladesh have another concern regarding the series as veteran Mushfiqur Rahim might have to be excluded from the series to facilitate CA’s bio-security protocol demands.

The players returning from Zimbabwe will go straight into the bio-security bubble for the Australia series after coming back from one in Zimbabwe.

Mushfiq, who had to return home early from Zimbabwe due to personal reasons, has left the bubble and CA are unwilling to let him back in for the series.

Nizamuddin is unwilling to give up on Mushfiq playing the series as he said they were trying to work on a solution.

“We are working on Mushfiq’s inclusion. Let’s see what happens,” he told TBP.

BCB had to rent out the whole Hotel Intercontinental for the teams to stay as Cricket Australia requested that nobody else but the people involved in the series staying in the hotel.

Australia lost their most recent T20I series against West Indies 4-1 and will travel to Bangladesh with the same squad.