No objection to tour Pakistan for Test series, says BCB President

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon said the security arrangement of Pakistan during the T20 International series was satisfactory and Bangladesh have no objection to tour Pakistan for the Test series.

Bangladesh team backed home after the three-match T20 series on January 27 midnight. After returning home from Pakistan BCB Boss met the press Wednesday evening for the first time.

"We were not convinced about the security situation in Pakistan earlier. So, we had told that we will decide about the Test series after seeing the situation during the T20 series. It's really impossible to offer more security than what they provided us. We are satisfied with the security in Pakistan. There is no complaint from any player or coaching staff. There is no reason to skip the Test series. We are going to play Test in Pakistan," Nazmul told the media at his workstation in Dhanmondi on Wednesday evening.

However, Nazmul criticized the poor performance of the Tigers during the T20 series where they lost 0-2 with one match was washed out due to rain.

"To be honest, the performance of this series was not like we usually do. It was tough to believe that the Bangladesh team play like this. We scored more than 90 runs without losing any wicket and ended up on 130 or 140. We were defensive in T20 cricket even after 12-14 overs. I have not seen this sort of defensive cricket in a long time," he added.

Nazmul said he was upset seeing Mahmudullah Riyad opting to bat first in spite of playing in an unknown wicket. He also expressed his discontent due to the unstable batting-order.

"I asked the players why they opted to bat first. They said the wicket was batting-friendly. After the match, they said the batting was tough. I don't understand what happened. Did they mistake to read the wicket properly? I sat with the players after the second game as well. We have talked much," Nazmul added.

"Tamim and Naim opened in the second game. After Naim's quick dismissal we played Mahedi. Why? Liton (Das) or Soumya (Sarkar) was there. Mahmudullah also wants to play up in the order. But he didn't bat a higher position. He looked like he wants to bat after every other batsman," Nazmul further told the media.

According to the BCB boss, Bangladesh struggled more due to the absence of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan. He said if a player doesn't want to participate in a certain event, he has to inform the board at least six months ago.

"We didn't have Shakib in India. Tamim had also opted out. Now we don't have Mushfiqur who is our number one batsman in Test cricket. We have to try a new batsman at number four. But Musfhiqur will return against Zimbabwe. It means we have to try a new one just in two Tests. It's really tough to come up with a good combination if a player suddenly calls to stay out of a series. We have to talk with the players and bring out a solution of it," Nazmul added.