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| Bangladesh refused to tour Pakistan due to security concerns. -File photo |
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had made it clear to its Bangladesh counterpart that Pakistani crickets may not be released for the league if Bangladesh’s national cricket team does not tour Pakistan as committed by them earlier.
Now just one day is left in the league to start for which 51 Pakistani cricketers have signed the contract.
“We have no report from Bangladesh about their plan to tour Pakistan before the start of the league and we have not yet taken any decision whether to release the players for the league or not,” a spokesman for the PCB told Dawn.
“Yes, the time is running short but I am not in a position to give any comment on the prevailing situation,” he said.
The BCB on last Saturday decided to send a security team to Pakistan and sought three more days from the PCB in confirming its tour, but on Tuesday there is no development.
The Bangladesh cricket team was to tour Pakistan in April for a short three-day tour to play just one T20 and one ODI.
But later lack of coordination between the PCB and the government of Punjab prompted some Bangladeshi citizens to file a petition in the Dhaka High Court, raising objections over the tour as a result of which the court ordered the BCB to defer the tour.
The PCB, which has desperately been making efforts to organise a successful tour of any foreign team in Pakistan, wrote a letter to the BCB warning it about non-participation of Pakistani players but the move seems to have failed as Bangladesh did not give any response.
Though some cricket experts of Pakistan were of the view that Pakistan cricketers should be allowed to play in the league, the PCB turned a deaf ear to their demand.
The cricketers, who will suffer financial losses, also pressurised the PCB through some cricket experts to get the NOCs, but it all went in vain.
Source: Dawn
