Bangladesh's Tour of Sri Lanka Likely to be Rescheduled for October

Originally scheduled for July-August, Bangladesh’s three-match Test series against Sri Lanka in the island country is likely to be moved to October, subject to discussions between both cricket boards.

The tour is Bangladesh's first three-match red-ball series in six years and part of the World Test Championship.

With the T20 World Cup now postponed by the ICC due to the coronavirus pandemic, ESPNCricinfo reported that both boards are keen to play the series as early as possible.

In addition, the BCB is also contemplating sending its High Performance team to Sri Lanka for a longer period as the group has not assembled for training in the last four months.

According to BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that the ICC's announcement of the three World Cups in the next three years allows his board to make changes to their plans and slot in the contests that were postponed.

Chowdhury said that both boards are interested to host the Test series this year itself.

"The ICC's announcement of the three major tournaments has provided what window we can work with, as now that we know that the tournament dates are fixed, we can work around with our schedule," Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. "Both boards are positive about the Test series going ahead later this year. We are in talks with SLC. Sri Lanka is in a better condition [in terms of Covid-19 caseload] than any of the other sub-continent countries at the moment, and since the situation is not favourable here, we are more keen on the away matches."

The BCB High Performance programme's chairman Naimur Rahman said that the players in the High Performance mix, too, are looking forward to a tour of Sri Lanka.

"We are first trying to figure out how we can start the training camp in Dhaka. We were supposed to start in March or April, and then tour Sri Lanka in July," Rahman said. "But I think once we have the home training sorted, we will discuss the Sri Lanka tour, where we can stay a bit longer to have more training days."