The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is trying to convince the government to relax the quarantine rules for Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman, the board's CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said Saturday. Shakib and Mustafiz returned home from India on Thursday, and are under a 14-day institutional quarantine in Dhaka. Both players were playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which was suspended as some cricketers had tested positive for Covid-19. Although the government's Covid protocol requires all the inbound passengers to go through a mandatory 14-day quarantine period, the general protocol is not supposed to apply to athletes, Nizamuddin said. Also read: Shakib, Mustafizur return to Dhaka "We are not expecting any special arrangement or privilege for Shakib and Mustafiz. The Covid protocol followed by our country is for general people. But it is different for the international players. "The general protocol is for people who come to the country by passenger flight after receiving a Covid negative certificate, but Shakib and Mustafiz returned home in a chartered flight and maintained a tight protocol," the BCB CEO added. He also said the board was working closely with the health authority to minimise the quarantine period of these two cricketers. The BCB earlier urged the health authority to reduce the period of quarantine for them, but the Directorate General of Health Services declined the request. Also read: 14-day quarantine must for Shakib, Mustafizur The Tigers are scheduled to play a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka starting May 23. If the authority stays firm to not reduce the quarantine period of Shakib and Mustafiz, the players will have to stay in institutional quarantine till May 19. This means they will get only four days to practice ahead of the series. The Tigers recently played a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and lost it 1-0. Bangladesh's last ODI series was in New Zealand where they lost the series 3-0 to the hosts.

Due to the recent surge of Covid-19 cases in the country, the Under-19 cricket series between Bangladesh and Pakistan has been postponed indefinitely, confirmed Bangladesh Cricket Board CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury. In this tour, Pakistan U-19 was scheduled to play a four-day and five one-day matches against their Bangladeshi counterparts. Also read: BCB eyes long-term plan to prepare U-19 cricketers for future “We have been in continuous communication with the Pakistan board. We will host the series at a convenient time in the coming months,” he told the reporters on Saturday. “It’ll possible when we get a situation to host an international team, and we obviously try to host them as early as possible,” he further added. Also read: World champion U-19 cricketers to get Tk1 lakh each per month A weeklong lockdown to curb the transmission of Covid-19 was imposed in Bangladesh on April 5 which will come to an end on Sunday. But it apparently is proved to be ineffective as it was unplanned as according to the expert. The government had to backtrack some decisions during the lockdown. Now, the authority has announced that a stricter lockdown will be enforced from April 14 when except for some emergency services, everything will remain closed.

The new season of Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League may take place in May-June this year, Kazi Inam Ahmed, the chairman of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM), hinted on Tuesday. 

Bangladesh cricket team is likely to tour Sri Lanka in mid-April this year, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, CEO of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), told the media on Saturday. 

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is yet to receive a positive response from Sri Lanka to continue with the island nation’s tour for a three-match Test series scheduled for October-November this year.

Instead of a 14-day quarantine, as is mandatory in most countries accepting visitors during the pandemic, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is hopeful of a seven-day quarantine period upon the arrival of the team in the island nation to play a three-match Test series in October.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) wants to play all the matches which have been postponed due to the Covid-19 situation, said its CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury.