Bangladesh refuses to accept 14-day quarantine on Sri Lanka tour

Bangladesh cricket team were set to play a three-match Test series against Sri Lanka in October to return to cricket after a long break. But after Sri Lanka reached out to Bangladesh with a new set of instructions regarding the tour, the fate of the series has become undecided. 

Bangladesh asked for a seven-day isolation period upon reaching Sri Lanka but the hosts want the Tigers to be in quarantine for 14 days, that too without any facilities for training. 

But Bangladesh are not interested to tour Sri Lanka under such strict instructions. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan informed on Monday that Bangladesh will not tour Sri Lanka under the current conditions. 

BCB believe that Test Championship matches can not be played under such circumstances. BCB top officials sat down for a meeting on Monday to decide about the tour. After the meeting, the BCB President informed that they will let Sri Lanka know that Bangladesh will not tour Sri Lanka under these conditions. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is not the one to decide about the quarantine period. After BCB asked for a seven-day quarantine, SLC said that they had no problems with it but it will only be possible if their health ministry approves of it and that is where the complications began. On Sunday, SLC reached out to BCB about the mandatory 14-day isolation period according to the instructions from the Sri Lankan government. 

According to the instructions from their health ministry, SLC informed BCB that the Bangladesh team will have to relocate to a hotel straight after landing in Sri Lanka and will have to stay in quarantine there for 14 days. There will be no practice facilities during this period and Bangladesh will only be able to take the field after testing negative for Covid-19 thrice.

SLC had informed BCB about the 14-day isolation earlier but BCB insisted that an isolation period for more than seven days was impossible. 

BCB is staying put on their decision. BCB President Nazmul Hassan said on Monday, "The conditions Sri Lanka are imposing, are rare in history. It is impossible to fight in the Test Championship accepting these conditions. We will let them know about it."

"It is not even close what we expected. In other countries, the teams can start training and gym within seven days of quarantine. What I saw that their proposal was to not go out of the hotel rooms for 14 days, not even for food," Nazmul added.

None of Sri Lanka's demands are feeling logical to the BCB President and that is why he is not seeing much possibility of the series happening. 

"I can not understand what they are trying to say. This is not a child's play. This is a part of the ICC Test Championship. You can not play the Test Championship matches in this manner," Nazmul said. 

Not just the mandatory 14-day quarantine, SLC has also asked BCB to reduce team members for the tours. If that happens, BCB will not be able to send the High Performance (HP) team alongside the national team. That is also another reason behind the unwillingness to tour Sri Lanka. 

"Generally, the hosts provide net bowlers. They are not going to do that and they will not let us take them from home. I don't understand what they are trying to say. We are going to play ICC Test Championship matches. I think we have a vast difference in our thinking. After considering everything, we have understood that it is impossible to go there right now," the BCB President said.

SLC will be informed today that Bangladesh will not tour them under their conditions. Nazmul Hassan said, "We will inform them today that there are no similarities between our thought process and theirs. It is impossible to play Test Championship matches under their given conditions. We will see after informing what they have to say."

Sri Lanka has seen domestic cricket return. Besides that, no other country is arguing with a seven-day quarantine period for the visitors. In such circumstances, the BCB President is finding it impossible to understand why SLC is staying put on such strict instructions. Which is why he feels that something else might be behind it. 

"Domestic cricket is being played in Sri Lanka. So many teams are playing without any problem. The problem is with only our team. This cannot happen that nobody can go out of their rooms for 14 days. I feel that something else is there, something else is behind this," the BCB President said. 

But the series is not cancelled yet just by BCB informing SLC that the tour is impossible under the given conditions. BCB will wait for the decision from SLC and the BCB President informed that it will be known within a couple of days. Then, the final decision on the Sri Lanka tour will be taken.