Bangladesh has been in the news quite a lot lately but not for any good reasons. The country has just sneaked out of a political turmoil that saw them going into an internet blackout for 11 days. The Government of Bangladesh also imposed a state of emergency to quell protests which led to the killing of at least 40 civilians. Where it has affected the country as a whole, the Women’s T20 World Cup preparations have received raised eyebrows from the outside world.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was awarded the hosting rights for the mega-event back in 2022. The Board scheduled the matches which will be played from 3rd October to 20th October at two venues: Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet and the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. However, the unrest has forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to surveil the situation closely to ensure the country is safe for the international teams. An ICC source broke this news last week while talking to Cricbuzz,
“We are closely monitoring the situation, but the event is still some time away. The situation appears to have improved over the last 24 hours,”
The global governing body also inquired the BCB representatives about the political situation during the Annual General Meeting in Colombo last week. Since the ICC has not officially made any statement since then, it is understood that the investigation is currently ongoing. Amidst this situation, the BCB chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury expressed optimism about hosting the tournament,
“As of today, all I know is that we are hosting the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup as per plan and we are working accordingly keeping that in mind,”
Moreover, the chairman of BCB’s women’s wing, Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel, said that the situation will improve in the coming days, which will leave the Board with ample days to successfully organize the World Cup.
“We are hopeful that everything will be fine in the coming days,” Shafiul said when asked about the situation.
He also said that teams have visited the country to play cricket during worse times.
“The Australians and England team visited here in difficult times earlier when the political situation was quite violent or say when there was corona. The situation is not like that and the condition is improving with the passing days and we are hopeful about hosting the tournament and we are taking the preparations as per our planning,”
The situation in Bangladesh really has become better over the last few days and things look optimistic as of now since the government has come to a deal with the protestors. ICC is already facing a tough situation concerning the hosting of the Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. In addition to that, the cricket governing body has also received criticism regarding the organization of the Men’s T20 World Cup in the USA in June. During the meeting in Colombo, the council decided to start an investigation into the budgetary upshoot during the event. The last thing ICC would want is the emergence of another such problem.
