The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) monday announced that Bangladesh tour has been postponed.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that the Bangladesh National Team’s Tour of Sri Lanka which was scheduled to take place during the months of September – November 2020, is postponed owing to the current pandemic (Covid – 19) situation” SLC said in a media release.
As per the media release, the decision was jointly taken by both SLC and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), after careful consideration of the current health situation and the health regulations, such as quarantine requirements.
The tour will be rescheduled when the International Cricket Calendars of both nations open up for a rescheduling.
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were scheduled to play a 3 match test series Under the ICC World Test Championship, whilst Bangladesh was scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on the 27th September, 2020.
The length of the quarantine, which the Sri Lankan health authorities had insisted be 14 days, with the players’ movement strictly limited to their hotel rooms, was the main proposal the Bangladesh board refused to agree with.
“Any tourist who is entering Sri Lanka has to abide by this rule [of 14 days in quarantine],” Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, said on Monday. “They [the SLC] have told us that they couldn’t do anything about this point [about quarantine]. We have informed them that we have to reschedule the tour to a time when things will improve.”
The Sri Lankan health authorities’ insistence on a 14-day quarantine was partly because Covid-19 is understood to be spreading in Bangladesh, and some high-profile members of the potential squad had also tested positive for the virus. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, has had minimal spread of the virus for the last few months, and life has largely returned to normal, aside from tight controls at the border.
The BCB had already started a residential camp for its 27-member preliminary squad by creating a bio-secure bubble with frequent coronavirus testing. The Sri Lanka tour could have provided a chance for the Tigers to get back to international cricket after a six-month long break imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
