The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has postponed the upcoming Bangladesh women’s team tour to India, but the dates for the event have not been announced. This is the second India vs Bangladesh series to be canceled after diplomatic tensions between the two countries escalated.
India-Bangladesh political relations suffered a major setback when revolutions took place in Bangladesh and the new leaders of the province fell out, leading to diplomatic tensions with their powerful neighbours.
Since then, India vs Bangladesh relations have suffered a major setback, as the BCCI had already canceled the tour against Bangladesh last August when the Indian men’s team was intending to make such a move.
BCCI has postponed Bangladesh women’s team’s India tour
The Bangladesh women’s team’s tour of India, consisting of three ODIs and three T20 matches, was scheduled for December and was part of the ICC Future Tour programme. There is every possibility that this series will be cancelled, although it is not very clear whether both the cricket boards will take this stance publicly or not.
“The series has not been approved,” a BCCI official told HT.
This was the second series between the two countries to be canceled due to the political and diplomatic crisis between the two countries. Apart from the series, the ACC Annual General Meeting, which was also scheduled in Dhaka, was not attended by BCCI officials in person. He was present on video call.
However, both teams have played against each other in international tournaments, such as India playing Bangladesh in the Asia Cup Super-4 competition, and India Women playing their last group stage game of the World Cup against Bangladesh Women.
This series was under question even before the decision on the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh on Monday.
Although the India Women vs Bangladesh Women contest could have marked the beginning of India’s domestic season in women’s cricket after the World Cup win, the series was cancelled.
As per the latest information, the exact dates and venues of the series were not announced, and hence, the series can easily be considered as unsettled even before Monday. An important announcement was made in the history of Bangladesh on Monday, when a tribunal court awarded death sentence to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina, who took refuge in India after fleeing her country amid political crisis last year, continues her stay in the country and is being protected by the Indian government; Therefore, such a decision will further complicate relations between the two countries.
BCCI is considering options for the home series
After the BCCI postponed the men’s series, they had cited international cricket commitments as one of the main reasons for not announcing new dates for the series, but this is not the case for women’s cricket; As of now, no date has been announced.
Rather, the BCCI is reportedly exploring options to replace the series with another opponent in the same window. This series can be played in mid or late December and will be a short series as the WPL is scheduled to start in January.
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