Bangladesh turns down Pakistan's request to play day-night Test

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Bangladesh's Mohammad Mithun (L) is bowled out by Pakistan's Yasir Shah (unseen) during the third day of the first Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on February 9, 2020. Photo: AFP

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday turned down Pakistan’s proposal of the playing the second and final Test in Karachi under floodlights, reported The News.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had proposed that the second Test of two-match series at the National Stadium from April 7 to be played with a pink ball under lights. The proposal was aimed at raising spectator interest in the match.

However, a top BCB official said that his board had turned down the proposal as Bangladesh were not prepared to play under lights. 

Nizamuddin Chowdhury, BCB’s CEO, said the Bangladesh team management was of the opinion that the team was not ready for a day-night Test and the challenge should not be taken without ample homework.

“We have spoken with our team management and they are not ready to play a day-night Test at the moment, due to lack of preparation,” Nizamuddin told reporters.

“The board understands their [team management’s] point of view and, after taking everything into consideration, we have decided not to play day-night Test matches in Pakistan,” he said.

Bangladesh have only played one pink-ball Test in their history. India has thrashed Bangladesh by a huge margin in the match last November.

The second and final Test will conclude Pakistan’s home series against Bangladesh. It will be the third and final phase of the series.

Due to security concerns, Bangladesh refused to send their team for a tour of Pakistan stressing that the visitors will not stay in the country for a long duration. Following negotiations between the cricket boards of the two countries, it was decided that Bangladesh would tour Pakistan in three phases.

The Tigers came to Lahore for a three-match T20I series which they lost 2-0. They then returned to play the first Test in Rawalpindi where the hosts thrashed them by an innings and 44 runs to take a 1-0 lead.

Bangladesh will return to Pakistan to play a one-off one-day international and the final Test in Karachi in the first week of April.

Originally published in The News