SECURITY CONCERNS

Bangladesh turn down invitation to play T20Is in Pakistan

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Pakistan is likely to seek compensation before sending the national team for a full tour of Bangladesh later this year. © Getty

Bangladesh are the latest to join the list of international teams that have refused to tour Pakistan due to security reasons. According to reports on Friday (March 31), Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) turned down an invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a two-match Twenty20 International series in Pakistan following the ICC Champions Trophy in June this year. BCB, however, have agreed to play the two matches at a neutral venue, claimed reports.

Earlier, Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, had conceded that the response from the international teams haven't been positive despite Lahore successfully hosting the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final, in March earlier this month. Pakistan is due to tour Bangladesh in July-August this year for a full series and Shaharyar had indicated that PCB might seek compensation before sending the team for the tour.

"We have been to Bangladesh in 2015 while they have not visited us since 2008, so we are thinking about asking them for some compensation as this year's series we are the hosts according to our agreement," Shaharyar had said recently. "We may ask them to compensate us financially if they want us to tour in July-August this year."

Shaharyar had said he planned on having separate meetings with the Indian and Bangladesh cricket officials to discuss bilateral relations on the sidelines of the ICC meeting in April. "Even in the meeting itself we intend to push the issue of India not honouring their MoU they signed with us in 2014 to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023," he said.

Shaharyar also had mentioned that he would meet with Giles Clarke, the head of the ICC's special task force on Pakistan cricket, to discuss bilateral series with other countries, particularly India, and the proposed World XI tour to Pakistan this year.

Since the incident in 2009, when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, international teams have been hesitant to tour the country. In 2015, Pakistan hosted Zimbabwe for a historic limited-overs series, but other Test-playing nations have not shown such willingness to play a cricket series in the country, forcing Pakistan to play their home games in the United Arab Emirates in the past few years.

Recently, their plans to host West Indies in Lahore, after the conclusion of PSL, also suffered a setback as the West Indies players' union was not willing to risk touring the country.

Weeks after West Indies' refusal, the PCB had ensured the smooth running of the PSL final between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators in Lahore. Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels, Chris Jordan and Dawid Malan were the overseas players who were part of Zalmi's historic victory while Gladiators had to bring in last-minute replacements - Anamul Haque, Morne van Wyk, Elton Chigumbura, Sean Ervine, and Rayad Emrit - after Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Roussow, Luke Wright, Tymal Mills and Nathan McCullum refused to travel to Pakistan citing security reasons.

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