BCB requests BCCI to allow seven top Indian players to participate in Asia XI vs World XI T20I series

India recently announced their white-ball squads for the upcoming three-match ODI and T20I series against the West Indies. And, any hopes of fans once again witnessing MS Dhoni play in the national colors were squashed when the team sheet was eventually made public. Dhoni wasn’t in the 15-member squad and the fans wondered whether they’ll have to wait till the IPL to see the champion cricketer once again in action, where he’ll turn out for the Chennai Super Kings.

But, in an interesting development, fans may not have to wait till the start of the IPL to see India’s most successful white-ball skipper in action! According to the report published in India Today, the BCB has requested its Indian counterpart- the BCCI- to allow seven of its top-players to participate in the two ‘Asia XI vs World XI’ T20Is- scheduled to be held in Bangladesh in Dhaka on March 18th and 21st, 2020. 

Besides MS Dhoni, the other top cricketers, that Bangladesh board has requested are Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ravindra Jadeja.

“Yes, Bangladesh is scheduled to host two T20 Internationals between Asia XI and Rest of the World. We are in touch with BCCI and other cricket boards of the Asian region to allow their players to be part of these two games,” BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhary told India Today.

BCB has sought the services of seven top Indian cricketers, including MS Dhoni

The two T20Is between Asia XI and World XI in Dhaka on March 18th and 21st is Bangladesh Cricket Board’s initiative to celebrate the birth centenary of the country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman- the first and second Prime Minister of Bangladesh- who was assassinated way back in 1975. The BCB President Nazmul Hossain Papon had promised to seek the services of the best cricketers of the world to make it a marquee event. The matches have been granted the official status by the International Cricket Council.

This is not the first time that a country has decided to stage tournaments to celebrate events of such proportion. In 1993, the Cricket Association of Bengal had staged the much-talked-about Hero Cup to celebrate its diamond jubilee while in 2004, the BCCI had invited Pakistan to play a one-off ODI at the Eden Gardens to commemorate its platinum jubilee. In the recent past, Sri Lanka, in 2018, staged the Nidahas Tri-nation trophy- a tournament now famous for Dinesh Karthik’s late last-ball-six against Bangladesh- as the nation celebrated its 70th independence.

Considering that BCB accepted BCCI’s request to play the D/N Test, the BCCI might consider allowing its marquee players but the problem is, the Men in Blue will be playing the final ODI of the three-match series against the South Africans in Kolkata on the 18th. But, the fact that MS Dhoni is unlikely to make it the national squad, the fans may just get lucky and get to witness him one more time in an international fixture.

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