Nazmul Hasan has stated that their players and coaching staff have concern over touring Pakistan.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board president also said that with stringent security measures in the country would make it stifling for the players to be involved in a Test series.
“After talking to the players and coaching staff, what I understood is that there is no opportunity [to tour Pakistan for a Test series],” Nazmul told the reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
“We have already let them [PCB] know what we want. We told them that we want to play T20 only, I mean, we are trying to send our T20 team. If they agree, we can try to get the government’s clearance. It’s not the issue of the board because it’s a security issue, so the government will have the final say.
“Apart from the government’s clearance, there is also the issue that whether the coaching staff and players will agree for the tour. We need to form a good T20 team. If we can form a good T20 team, we’ll send the team. We are supposed to get the government clearance within one or two days after which we’ll give the final decision.”
Nazmul did confirm that the security plan in Pakistan is more than satisfactory but added the coaches and players are reluctant to stay there for a long period of time.
“There is no doubt about their security system,” he said. “The feedback that we got [from the security agency] that the security system is good. Our Women’s team and aged level team toured there and they also gave us a positive feedback about the security.
“But our coaching staff is reluctant to go. Someone said they may go for just short visit. As I said earlier, the players said that their parents, relatives and friends are concerned and requested them not to go. Secondly, the over cautious security plan that will be in place will create a suffocating environment. So how long you can stay in a suffocating environment?
That’s why we told them that we may go now for T20 series and we will come back within a week. Then we can think about whether we should go there for the longer format. If they agree for the T20 series, only then will we try to get the green signal from government.”
Earlier, the PCB clinically said that they aren’t open to the idea of hosting only a limited-overs series in Pakistan.
Chief executive, Wasim Khan had insisted that they wouldn’t consider having a Test series in a neutral venue.
Bangladesh are scheduled to tour Pakistan in January-February for a three-match T20I series followed by a two-Test series which is part of the World Test Championship.
