COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is to go ahead with a tour to Bangladesh later this month after carrying out its own security assessment in the violence-plagued country, cricket board officials said yesterday.
“We are very positive about playing in Bangladesh,” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said. “We look forward to playing there.”
Confirmation that the tour is going ahead comes after SLC vice president Mohan de Silva and the board’s former chief executive Ajith Jayasekera travelled to Bangladesh earlier this week.
Ranatunga said the pair were joined by Sri Lankan diplomats as they held discussions in Dhaka about player safety for the tour.
The first of two Test matches begins in the capital on January 27 and the two teams are also scheduled to play three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches.
Bangladesh has been rocked by some of the deadliest political violence in its history in recent weeks, with the opposition trying to derail a January 5 general election which was marred by boycotts.
The violence has also prompted speculation that the 50 over Asia Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup, which are both due to be hosted by Bangladesh in the coming weeks, could be shifted.
Ranatunga rejected reports that Sri Lanka had been sounded out by Asian cricket authorities about the possibility of hosting the Asia Cup which will also include India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
AFP
