‘We have to go’- Bangladesh Cricket Board unhappy over Asia Cup 2023 schedule

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) admitted on Thursday that excessive travel will have a detrimental effect on their Asia Cup 2023 campaign. Because of the continuing controversy between the cricket boards of India and Pakistan, BCB and other Asian nations have found themselves in this situation.

Bangladesh has been assigned to Group B, which means that they will have to travel to Pakistan and Sri Lanka to play their matches. The Asia Cup 2023 will be conducted in a hybrid format, with four matches taking place in Pakistan and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka. The scenario is now difficult for Bangladesh, they will have to fly from Sri Lanka to Pakistan and then back to the island nation.

We have to go as we can do nothing actually: Jalal Yusuf

BCB cricket operation chairman Jalal Yunus said “Yes, we have to go to Lahore to play the first match. There are two matches in the first round, one in Sri Lanka and the other one is in Pakistan. We have to go as we can do nothing actually.” He however added that the Asian Cricket Council has promised them chartered flights to make the travel a little easier.”

“After the 31st [August] the next match is on 3rd [September]. To make the journey comfortable the Asia Cup authorities [ACC] has decided to travel the teams in chartered flights. We will travel by chartered planes. This is the responsibility of the Asian Cricket Council. Of course, we would like to travel by quality airline, if that is a national airline or a chartered plane definitely that would be good for everyone.”

The BCB official admitted that the tight schedule and so much travel within a short time can affect the performance of the Tigers in the competition. On August 31, the Bengal Tigers will kick off their Asia Cup 2023 campaign against reigning champions Sri Lanka in Kandy. Following that, they will fly to Pakistan to face Afghanistan in their second group-stage match on September 3rd.

They will play their first game in Pakistan after qualifying for the Super 4s. After that, they will return to Sri Lanka to play their final two Super 4 games. If they make it to the finals, they will have to play again in Sri Lanka.