New Zealand tour of Bangladesh postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused cancellation or postponement of several sporting events. And we now have one more series being postponed to a later time due to the outbreak. New Zealand‘s tour of Bangladesh for August and September will now be played some other time. There hasn’t been any revised date or window announced for the tour.

New Zealand was supposed to play two Tests against the hosts during their tour. The two-match Test series was part of the ICC World Test Championship. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has released a statement in which they have announced that it won’t be possible for them to host an entire series given the current situation.

NZC and BCB to look for a new window for the Test series in Bangladesh

“In the present COVID-19 pandemic scenario, hosting a full cricket series in August 2020 will be a challenge in terms of preparations and we cannot take chances with the safety and health of players, support staff and related stakeholders,” Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury said in a BCB statement.

The statement also addressed the disappointment of everyone who was supposed to be involved during the series. BCB also thanked New Zealand Cricket (NZC) for showing the right amount of understanding.

“Under these circumstances, the BCB and NZC have felt that the best way forward would be to defer the series. We realise that this will be hugely disappointing for the players and officials of both teams, not to mention the fans of the two nations but I must thank NZC for its understanding and for recognising the rationale behind such a decision,” the statement from BCB added.

NZC and BCB will now have to work out for a window to play the pending series. A few months ago, Australia’s tour of Bangladesh, which was going to be played in June was also postponed due to the pandemic.

Bangladesh’s tour to Sri Lanka in July was also postponed. Amidst all this, Bangladesh has suspended all their cricket activities since March. The players are yet to have a camp or a training session and most of them have stayed indoors for a while now. The country has already seen close to 1.2 lakhs cases of COVID-19 infections. Recently, former skipper of Bangladesh team, Mashrafe Mortaza was also tested positive with the infection.