Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, the newly appointed adviser of the interim government for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, is confident about keeping Bangladesh as the hosts of the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup 2024.
As hosts of the world event, Bangladesh Cricket Board has been in jeopardy due to the unrest in the country triggered by the student protest against the just dissolved Sheikh Hasina government.
The trouble for the BCB increased as president Nazmul Hasan has been in hiding along with a few other influential board directors who are believed to have the backing of the former PM’s party Awami League.
It has been revealed that the International Cricket Council has communicated with the BCB regarding the future of the multi-nation women’s tournament.
According to media reports, the political unrest in Bangladesh has made the ICC look at alternative host countries.
The reports suggested that the ICC has shortlisted United Arab Emirates, India and Sri Lanka as back-up.
While the BCB has already written to General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, seeking security assurance for organizing the tournament, Asif expressed confidence about keeping the tournament in Bangladesh.
“I am still waiting to meet the secretary [of the ministry]. Haven’t been able to go to ministry yet as it was Friday and tomorrow is Saturday. However, hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup has come to my notice,” said Asif while speaking to a Bangla news outlet.
“I will soon start working on it and will hope that the tournament doesn’t go out of our country. It will hamper the image of our country as we are all working in reforming the country. We are lucky to have Dr Yunus (Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the interim government) sir with us. I have heard a little from the secretary of the needed deconstruction. We will soon sit to work on those. Dr Yunus sir himself is a sports lover and was involved in Olympics a few days ago. I will soon speak to him and hopefully we will be able to host the Women’s T20 World Cup properly,” he added.
With the participation of 10 countries, the tournament is scheduled to be held from October 3-20.
The 23 matches of the tournament are to be hosted by Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka and Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
