Zimbabwe national cricket team will arrive on October 17 to play three Tests and five one-day international matches against Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced on Wednesday. The series will mark the first ever three-Test series in Bangladesh, though the selection of the venues by the Bangladesh Cricket Board already raised some questions.The first two Tests will be held in Chittagong, while the third Test will be held in Dhaka from November 11-15.
The first Test is scheduled to take place from October 26-30 in Chittagong while the second Test will be played from November 3 to November 7.
The choice of Chittagong for back to back Test matches caused some to raise eyebrows as the country has at least three more Test venues at Fatullah, Khulna and Sylhet ready to host Zimbabwe.
Some of the BCB officials are also in dark over the venues as they alleged not to have been consulted.
‘So far I know, Khulna was also selected for one Test match, but I don’t know why this has been changed,’ said a BCB director preferring not to be named.
BCB ground’s committee chairman Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan also admitted the fact. ‘We have full preparation to hold the international matches in all venues,’ said Lokman on Wednesday.
‘I don’t have a clear idea about the schedules but I think due to some accommodation problem maybe the game operations committee avoided the Sylhet and Khulna venues,’ he added.
This came as a lame excuse to others as Zimbabwe have played in Sylhet in the ICC World Twenty20 and the BCB in 2011 spent over Tk 25 lakh from its own coffers to improve the accommodation facilities in Khulna.
The BCB kept the ODI series also limited in Dhaka and Chittagong with the first three ODIs scheduled in Dhaka on November 19, 21 and 23 and the next two one-dayers to be played in Chittagong on November 26 and 28.
-With New Age input
