Bangladesh’s cricket organization has said that next year’s Twenty20 World Cup is threatened by the country’s deadly political violence, warning there may only be weeks to save the tournament.
The 16-team competition, due to take place between March 16 and April 6 next year, should be the biggest sporting event ever staged by Bangladesh.
However, the country has been gripped by violent protests in recent weeks, with opposition supporters insisting that Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stand aside ahead of elections due next year. More than 74 people have been killed since late October.
“If this situation prevails, then any big tournament or participation of any big country will be under threat,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan told reporters late on Monday. “This must end in January and preferably in December.”
The political violence has affected almost every city in Bangladesh, including the three host venues for the T20 tournament — the capital, Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.
A team of International Cricket Council (ICC) inspectors declared last week that they were “happy” with security arrangements, but said they would continue to monitor the situation.
However, the dangers posed to teams was underlined at the weekend when a small bomb exploded outside the West Indies’ Under-19 team’s hotel in the port city of Chittagong, prompting them to cut short their tour.
Bangladesh is also due to host a tour by Sri Lanka next month, before then staging the Asia Cup, a 50-over tournament starting in February that also features India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“The quicker this political situation improves, the better, because the Sri Lanka tour is in January and then we have the Asia Cup. It needs to be resolved before that,” said Hassan, who is a ruling party lawmaker.
Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB’s chief executive, told reporters that the ICC had asked the board to relay them an update on the situation.
“We will send [it to] them accordingly,” he said.
An ICC spokesman on Monday said that it was “actively monitoring” the situation in Bangladesh, stressing that it gave the highest priority to the safety of all participants in ICC events.
A spokesman for Cricket Australia said the board would seek its own government’s advice on the security situation, but said no decision on whether to go to Bangladesh would be made until much nearer the time.
“We have a constant commitment to prioritize the safety of players and officials. We only ever allow them to travel when we are totally confident that they can travel in safety,” the spokesman said. “It is standard practice for us to conduct security assessments very close to the tour dates and we won’t be doing that until much nearer to the event itself.”
Australia and the West Indies both refused to play in Sri Lanka during the 1996 50-over World Cup after a bomb went off in Colombo, killing 91 people, shortly before the tournament began.
New Zealand also refused to play in Kenya during the 2003 World Cup, a few months after a deadly bomb attack in Mombasa.
Pakistan has not hosted any international matches since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team during a Test in Lahore in 2009.
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