Bangladesh is about to host the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup, but due to the ongoing protest and riots in the country, the security failure within the country has become a major cause of concern for other countries and Bangladesh itself. The Bangladesh Cricket Board is holding on to small hope of hosting the upcoming ICC Tournament. The board has written to the Bangladesh Army Chief of Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman on Thursday seeking security assurance for the conduct of the tournament, which is currently scheduled to begin on September 27 with the warm-up games. 

The International Cricket Council (ICC) meanwhile has been closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and has even weighed up other host options and in the event of the tournament being moved out, is likely to opt for a country in a similar time zone as Bangladesh. India, UAE and Sri Lanka fit its requirement. 

On August8, a Nobel Laureate- led interim government took over in Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country. Several BCB  officials, including the President, also flew away from the country due to their association with Hasina’s party. However some board members are still in Dhaka and are hopeful about hosting the event.

It has been reported by Iftekhar Ahmed Mithu who is currently the chairman of  BCB’s Umpire committee, that they are trying to host the tournament. “To be honest there are not too many among us present in the country and on Thursday (August 8) we have sent a letter to the Army Chief regarding assurance about the security of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup as we have only two months in hand,” Mithu reported on Thursday.

“ICC communicated with us two days back and we replied that we will come back to them shortly. Today after the [interim] government is formed, still we have to give them assurance of the security considering it cannot be given by the board or any anyone else apart from a law enforcement agency of the country and so we sent the letter today and after getting written assurance from them [the Army] we will inform the ICC,” he added.

Ten teams are scheduled to play 23 matches, over 18 days of the World Cup, at two venues in Bangladesh – the Sher-e- Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka and the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet – from October 3 to 20.

It is learnt that the ICC will take until August 10 before taking a decision on the venue of the tournament after assessing the conditions on-ground in Bangladesh.