The Bangladesh government is outrightly seeking help from the United Nations (UN) to retain the hosting rights for the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup. (More Cricket News)
Asif Mahmud, who is the country's interim youth and sports adviser, stated that they would have a dialogue with the UN regarding travel restrictions imposed by certain countries against their citizens who will be travelling to Bangladesh.
On Saturday, August 10, the ICC informed participating boards that if the Bangladesh violence continues then they will consider all options, including moving the tournament out of the host country, if required.
As of now, the governments of Australia UK (England and Scotland), India and New Zealand have advised or refrained their citizens from travelling to Bangladesh.
As per a report in ESPNCricinfo, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have a major headache up their sleeve with these travel bans as they can be only lifted by the country's respective governments.
“There are travel restrictions for some countries and so we will speak with the United Nations,” Mahmud said. “There are some issues regarding security and infrastructure and we will talk in this regard with professor Yunus [chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government]. He is a sports lover and hope that he can resolve the matter.”
The uncertainty around the Women's T20 World Cup looms large as the BCB President, Nazmul Hassan has been untraceable since the Awami League government fell on August 5 and several directors, who have political ties, have been unavailable.
Mahmud had said that he would consider forming an interim committee to manage the BCB but recognized that board's urge to have it's own independent decision-making.
“The BCB president is missing. Of course, for a federation to function, all of its organs need to work. The president holds an important responsibility and he is absent. The BCB is an autonomous federation and we cannot give them any decision.
“We have suggested to the BCB directors to look at how to resolve the issue within the ICC’s legal framework. They will report to us later on whether to appoint someone for an interim period. We will continue the process in this regard.
“We want to make required changes but at the same time we need to follow a process. We don’t want to change the person; rather, we want to change the system so that whoever comes in by following that system, corruption cannot come in and we want to take steps so that we can make a permanent solution.”
The Women's T20 World Cup is scheduled to start from October 3 to October 20, in Bangladesh. Australia are the defending champions, having defeated South Africa in the final of the previous edition.
