A few days after Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Arun Dhumal called Mustafizur Rahman’s ouster from the league ‘unfortunate’, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) reached out to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to try and explore more cooperation in cricket between the two Asian countries.
The Director (Cricket Operations) of the BCB, Nazmul Abedin Fahim, said that the board had recently sent an email to the BCCI and also stayed in constant touch with other boards globally.
“We maintain regular communication with various countries’ cricket boards. As part of that regular communication, we recently reached out to the Board of Control for Cricket in India via a letter, through an email, to communicate with them”, Fahim told ANI.
In the letter, the BCB mentioned that India’s men’s team was scheduled to tour Bangladesh in September this year, and the women’s team was expected to travel after that, further indicating a thaw in cricketing relations between the subcontinental neighbours.
“In the letter, we mentioned that the Indian national cricket team is scheduled to come to Bangladesh in September to play a series, and after that, our women’s team is supposed to go to India. We also included in the letter a request to explore any other possibilities for reciprocal cricket collaborations,” he added.
In January, Rahman was released by Kolkata Knight Riders after the BCCI instructed the franchise to let him go amid escalating tensions between India and Bangladesh.
“Kolkata Knight Riders confirms that BCCI/IPL, as the regulator of IPL, has instructed it to release Mustafizur Rahman from the squad ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season,” the franchise said in a statement.
Following this, Bangladesh opted against coming to India to play in the T20 World Cup, insisting their matches be shifted to Sri Lanka. When their request was declined, they decided not to participate in the tournament, with Scotland coming as their replacement.
However, after the elections on February 12, the new government in Bangladesh has taken steps to improve relations with India.
