Sher-e-Bangla Stadium may not host the match against Pakistan

The Sher-e-Bangla stadium at Mirpur may not be ready yet to host its fixture against Pakistan which is scheduled to be played in July after the end of the all-important Champions Trophy in June this year. The major reason for the unavailability of Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS) is the renovation going on presently in the stadium.

The entire top surface of about 6 inches had been taken out to install a new set of pipes underlying the ground. Therefore, the entire top surface of the ground has to be relayed. The measures have been taken in order to make the rainwater seep easily into the ground.

The Chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB’s) grounds committee, Hanif Bhuiyan, announced that the ground will only be ready until the end of August. He further augmented that over the years, the nature of the soil had become coarse which did not perforate water easily. As a result, necessary measures had to be taken.

“The top six inches of soil have become hard which makes it difficult for the rainwater to go through. That’s why we decided to take this step. The last time the BCB did a makeover like this was probably 10 years ago” said Bhuiyan according to The Daily Star.

The realistic chairman claimed that work will be completed within 3 months and an additional 45 days would be required to grow grass on them.”I am confident that the ground will be ready by around July. And after that, we will need 45 days to grow the grass. We are targeting to finish this work before the Pakistan series.” added Hanif Bhuiyan.

“But I cannot say for sure if the series will be played here. New grounds often have problems. There may be problems with the outfield. Be it Pakistan or Australia [in September], I am sure the ICC and BCB will check the Mirpur ground before the series.” said a sceptical Bhuiyan.

Later on, he concluded by ensuring that there wasn’t anything to worry about as there are other grounds ready to host the fixture.

“But there’s nothing to worry because the other grounds in the country — Sylhet, Fatullah, Chittagong — are all prepared. I can get them ready for an international series in a very short time,” concluded the BCB ground committee chairman