Most of the cricketers want to snub Pakistan tour

Uncertainty looms large over the upcoming Pakistan tour of the Bangladesh national cricket team as most of the Tigers are reluctant about the tour, said a high official of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday.

The tour is originally scheduled for January-February 2020 for a three-match T20I and a two-match Test series. But BCB is reluctant to tour Pakistan for a longer period and so they proposed for only T20I series in Pakistan and the Test series in a neutral venue.

But the Pakistan Cricket Board (BCB) did not agree on this. PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani manifested that Pakistan would be playing all of their home series in the home soil from now on. These contrast positions of participating boards made the series uncertain.

The ongoing uncertainty grew more when a top official of BCB said most of the players of the Bangladesh national team are not willing to tour Pakistan.

He said the players have shown reluctance in written when BCB asked them to express their opinions for the tour.

"The board itself is not in a happy mood with this tour. We're yet to make a final decision about the series in Pakistan. We can make a decision when we'll come to know the opinions of the players. For now, I can tell you that most of the cricketers are unwilling to make the series and they informed the board president of it," the official said preferring anonymity.

While most of the players showed reluctance to tour Pakistan, a Test player has signed up for the series as ESPNcricinfo reported earlier on the day.

The BCB is likely to come up with the final decision after its next board meeting on January 12. Before that, board president Nazmul Hassan will hold a meeting with the players of the national team, the source also told the media.

After the terror attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team in 2009, no team toured Pakistan to play Test cricket until Sri Lanka did in December 2019. But according to BCB, it was not enough to mark Pakistan as a safe country to return international cricket fully.

If Bangladesh refuse to tour Pakistan, the PCB might bring the matter to the International Cricket Council as the series includes two Tests which are part of World Test Championship.