The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has postponed the upcoming Bangladesh Women’s tour of India, with no dates announced for the event. This marks the second India vs Bangladesh series to be cancelled since the rise of diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
The India-Bangladesh political relations took a major hit when Bangladesh experienced revolutions and the new leaders of the province entered into a disagreement, leading to diplomatic tensions arising with their powerful neighbours.
Since then, the India vs Bangladesh relations have taken a major jolt, as the BCCI had already cancelled the tour against Bangladesh last August, when the Indian Men’s team was intending to make such a move.
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BCCI postpones Bangladesh Women’s tour of India
The Bangladesh Women’s tour of India, comprising three ODIs and three T20Is, was scheduled for December and was part of the ICC Future Tour program. The series is most likely to get cancelled, although it is not very clear that the two cricket boards will take this position publicly.
“The series hasn’t received the clearance,” a BCCI official told HT.
This marked the second series between the two nations that was cancelled due to the political and diplomatic distress between the two nations. Other than the series, the ACC Annual General Meeting, which was also scheduled at Dhaka, was not attended in person by BCCI officials. They were present over video calls.
However, the two teams have played against each other in international tournaments, like India playing Bangladesh in the Asia Cup Super-4 contest, and India Women played their last group stage game of the World Cup against Bangladesh Women.
The series was questionable even before the verdict on the former Bangladesh Prime Minister came out on Monday
Though the India Women vs Bangladesh Women contest could mark the beginning of India’s home season in Women’s cricket after the World Cup triumph, the series was cancelled.
As per the latest learnings, the exact dates and venues for the series were not announced, and hence, the series could easily be considered to be in choppy waters even before Monday. Monday marked a significant announcement in the history of Bangladesh, as a tribunal court ruled a verdict asking the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to be sentenced to death.
Hasina, who took shelter in India after fleeing from her own country amid the political distress last year, is continuing her stay in the nation and is being protected by the Indian government; hence, such a verdict would further complicate the relationship between the two nations.
BCCI is looking to fix alternatives for a home series
After the BCCI had postponed the Men’s series, they had cited international cricket commitments as one of the main reasons for the non-announcement of new dates for the series, but such is not the case for the Women’s cricket; yet, no dates have been announced.
Rather, the BCCI has reportedly been looking for alternatives to replace the series with another opposition in the same window. The series might be played midway or towards the end of December, and it will be a short series since the WPL is due to start in January.
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