BCB President unsure when cricket will return

The whole cricketing world has been at a halt for more than a couple of months. The Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier League (BDPL), country's premier 50-over tournament had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. And there is still no fixed date when cricket will return, both domestically and globally. 

Bangladesh have already seen the third phase of their tour to Pakistan, their tour to Ireland and Australia's two-Test series in Bangladesh postponed indefinitely because of the pandemic. And next in line, is their series against Sri Lanka at home which was supposed to be during the latter parts of July. 

In such a situation, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan has said that they are still unsure of when cricket will return and they are observing the activities of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the other boards before making a decision. He made the comments while talking to the media on Wednesday at the National Sports Council.

"Nobody can say when this will end or how is the situation. We will observe the others, what the ICC does, what ACC does, what the other countries are doing. Nobody has yet been able to fix a date to resume cricket. It is not right to think that we will be the first to do so," Nazmul said. 

He also said that there have been no talks about cricket returning because even big tournaments like the World T20 is on the verge of being postponed and thus he does can not fix a date for cricket's return.

"No such discussion has happened. How will there be a discussion? I can not give a date that cricket will return in July or August. I do not know anything. So, no such discussions are happening. Talks about the World T20 being postponed is going on. In such a situation, it is difficult to say what will happen to the bilateral series," Nazmul implied. 

He also added, "We do not know when the ICC events will take place. If we know that, we might reschedule accordingly. We are waiting for huge trouble ahead. But it is the same for everyone. We will try to hold on to as many matches as possible."

Sri Lanka have already shown interest to host the series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But Nazmul said that the matter is not that simple and they will have to make a series of decisions before making the big one. 

"It (Sri Lanka hosting the series) will happen just because they want to host, it is not that simple. We have to decide whether we can send our players. If it will be right to send our players, where will our players stay, what will they do. These are not easy decisions to make. The situation might worsen at a place where it is better right now," Nazmul added. 

The coronavirus situation has worsened in Bangladesh in recent days as Wednesday saw a record spike of coronavirus cases with 1,617 new cases and 16 deaths.