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The Indian government has reportedly advised the BCCI to cancel the tour of Bangladesh due to sour political relations between the two countries. An announcement could come soon.
India’s tour of Bangladesh is reportedly set to be cancelled. (AP Photo)
India men’s cricket tour of Bangladesh, scheduled for August, looks all set to be suspended for the foreseeable future. According to a report in Cricbuzz, the series is ‘effectively off’, pending an official announcement. The series was supposed to see three ODIs and three T20Is between August 17 and 31.
The report claimed that the Indian government has advised the BCCI against proceeding with the tour due to the sour political relations between the two countries. The fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, among other things, has triggered one of the biggest diplomatic stand-offs in the region.
The report said the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has paused the sale for the tour’s media rights — scheduled to happen on July 7 and July 10 via technical and financial bidding, respectively. The BCB is said to have originally planned to sell media rights for a two-year period between July 2025 and June 2027.
However, it will now sell the rights for the three-match T20I home series against Pakistan, scheduled from July 17 to 25 separately, before working on other matches. Indian broadcasters are said to have been informed that the series won’t happen, whereas an Invitation To Tender (ITT) hasn’t been made available either.
“They have informed us that there is no India series. After announcing the tender, they did not provide the ITT. They are selling, for now, only for the Pakistan series,” the report quoted an Indian broadcaster.
The BCB is hopeful of organising a postponed series but a statement from the BCCI confirming the current status is expected in the coming week.
“We will continue, we will take time to research the market. There is no point in rushing things. We can give different contracts. The date for the India series hasn’t been fixed yet. They (the BCCI) said it’s difficult for them to come in August. This is part of FTP,” the report cited a BCB official as saying.
In the purely cricketing world, this would mean a delay in Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s return to the competitive field, considering they only play ODIs now. However, India and Bangladesh will probably still clash with each other in September under the Asia Cup, which at the moment seems likely to go ahead.
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