Bangladesh scrap one Test citing tight schedule

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) recently announced their revised itinerary for their upcoming series against Afghanistan. With the home series scheduled for June 2023, Bangladesh were to host Afghanistan for two Test matches, along with three ODIs and three T20Is. However, the schedule has been revised, and one Test match has been scrapped.

The BCB stated that a tight schedule was the reason behind both sides only playing one Test match instead of two. With the ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in the later stages of 2023, the cricket operations chairman of the BCB, Jalal Yunus, opined that one Test was scrapped to better prepare for the World Cup.

"We will play one Test along with T20Is and ODIs. There were two Tests, but we have reduced it to one because our schedule is very tight (ahead of the next World Cup). We will play the other Test at some other time, but for now, we are just playing one Test," Yunus was quoted as saying by the Cricbuzz.

We need the schedule as quickly as possible: Yunus

Furthermore, the BCB has also been planning a 10-day camp in either Bangalore or the UAE. However, they have been unable to finalise the camp due to the World Cup schedule not being announced. If training abroad could be ruled out in the future, the team could begin their preparations at home.

"Look, the schedule will be prepared by ICC with the cooperation of India, as they are the host. We are waiting for the schedule as we are yet to know in which venue we will be playing and when we get that, we can understand where we stand (as far as preparation is concerned)," Yunus said.

Furthermore, the BCB cricket operations chairman also brought to notice the Asia Cup which may happen before the upcoming ODI world cup in India. Therefore, the team's practice camp will depend on how much space they have to conduct before the important mega event. However, it will be interesting to see if the Asia Cup happens ahead or not with BCCI declining the hybrid model proposal recently.

"The practise camp is related with the schedule, and if we could get the date, we (could have planned something) because you all know before that we have the Asia Cup, and after that we will hardly get any time. We need the schedule as quickly as possible because this is very important for us to plan for our preparation ahead of the tournament," he concluded.