The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is all set to organize Asia XI vs World XI fixtures to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – considered as the father of Bengali nation. Bangladesh’s Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka will host two games on March 18 and 21.
As per Hindustan Times, a source revealed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly had sent the names of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, Shikhar Dhawan, and Kuldeep Yadav to the BCB in order to participate in the upcoming contest.
“Ganguly sent in the names to the BCB after we checked on the availability of the players. Kohli, Shami, Dhawan, and Kuldeep will represent us in the Asia XI team. It has been a while since we sent the names because the Bangladesh board needed the list from BCCI to be able to prepare the Asian squad,” the source said.
Earlier, there was uncertainty regarding the involvement of Pakistani players in the Asia XI; however, BCCI joint secretary Jayesh George made sure that no Pakistan cricketers were invited for the match.
“What we are aware of is that there will be no Pakistan players in the Asia XI. That is what the message is, so there is no question of both countries coming together or picking one over the other,” Jayesh had said.
But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had cleared the air stating that the non-involvement of Pakistan players was because of their busy schedule in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL).
“The T20Is between World XI and Asia XI were scheduled from March 16-20, while the PSL 2020 is likely to end on March 22. Since the dates of both the series couldn’t be changed, we offered our regrets to the BCB, both verbally and in writing, which they understood and accepted,” a PCB spokesperson said.
