BCB proposes to curtail Zimbabwe Test series for T20, ODIs

Dhaka, August 26 - The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided to prune by one Test the three-match series against Zimbabwe in January.

Chief of BCB's Cricket Operations Naimur Rahman Durjoy said the decision was taken to allow the team ample time to prepare for next year's World Twenty20, reports bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe will visit Bangladesh for a complete series like last year.

"We are still discussing (this) with Zimbabwe. We have proposed playing two Tests, reducing one. They’ve said they’ll let us know after discussing among themselves," Naimur said on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe Cricket is likely to agree with the terms as Bangladesh are the hosts of the series that will also include three ODIs and T20Is.

The proposal can come as a surprise to many as Bangladesh in the past have always urged more matches in the prestigious format.

But Naimur's explained: "We have many games lined up at that time. We have to think about resting cricketers, giving them enough time to recover." "After the Test series, we have one-day and T20 commitments too. We have to prepare for those. So we reduced (a) Test for T20 preparations."

After the series, the Asia Cup, which will be in T20 format, will be played before the World T20 starts in India. The decision to reduce a Test was made to keep the players fit.

Rumours doing round are that coach Chandika Hathurusingha influenced the decision. It is said that the Sri Lankan is not keen to spend extra energy in Tests with Zimbabwe.Naimur, however, skirted questions in this regard.

"I don't know if the proposal came from elsewhere. I always want to play more Tests but other commitments need to be taken care of as well.

I, too, later realised that it is not possible to play more Tests for realistic reasons," he added.

Bangladesh are supposed to visit India to play Test for the first time next year. Bangladesh will host England in the late 2016 to play a bilateral series that includes two Tests.

Bangladesh will also play two Tests in their New Zealand tour in December 2016. 

(IANS)