India tour of Bangladesh gets closer to approval; Afghanistan T20Is could be pushed back | Cricket News
New Delhi: India’s white-ball tour of Bangladesh is nearing approval and to accommodate the fixtures the proposed three T20Is against Afghanistan could be pushed back. According to the proposed schedule circulated internally, India were set to take on Afghanistan starting from September 13 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.It is reliably learnt that discussions are underway to push back the start of that short series to September 17 which would allow enough window after the Sri Lanka Tests to accommodate a short tour of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is keen to have a six-match white-ball series in September. Earlier this month, the BCB put its television and digital media rights up for sale. This happened a week after India resumed issuing tourist visas to Bangladeshi citizens, nearly two years after the suspension following the political turmoil in Bangladesh in 2024.“We are hopeful about the tour. We haven’t got the green signal as yet from the BCCI, but they also have not said they are not coming. So we are hoping to get a positive response from the BCCI soon,” a top BCB official told this website.Sources close to the BCB’s newly elected president, Tamim Iqbal, said that the former Bangladesh captain returned from the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, with some positive signs.The series was originally slated for last year but was deferred due to political tensions between the two countries.After being appointed BCB director, Tamim had told TimesofIndia.com that he was hopeful about the series.“There is a scheduled series against India later this year. I am very hopeful that India will come and play the series. This is one bilateral series that the people of Bangladesh really enjoy watching. Bangladesh did really well in the last series against India,” Tamim had said.Now it looks like the decks are clear for India to travel to Bangladesh after a gap of four years.
