On May 25, the BCB chairman of cricket operations Akram Khan confirmed that Australia will play two additional T20Is during their tour of Bangladesh in August later this year. It makes it a five-match T20I series that will be completed over eight or nine days, as said by Akram Khan.
The original schedule had NZ travelling for three T20Is and that series was supposed to be followed by the Australia one, which was also supposed to have only three T20Is. However, in the tweaked schedule, Australia will arrive in early August for five T20Is after the Aaron Finch-led side complete their West Indies tour, consisting of five T20Is and three ODIs. That tour will finish on July 24.
“As you may have known, Australia have agreed to increase their T20I series from three to five matches. It will be held over eight or nine days. We are trying to be well prepared for the World Cup T20,”
Khan was quoted saying to the reporters.
These additional T20Is add to the hectic schedule for Bangladesh and will act as preparation for the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be played in October-November later this year, either in India or UAE.
Bangladesh travel to Zimbabwe in July for one Test, three ODIs and three T20Is. Prior to that, they will also be involved in the Dhaka Premier League.
“We have a pretty packed scheduled. We will have club cricket after this (Sri Lanka) series.
We will go to Zimbabwe, and afterwards we have Australia and New Zealand coming up.
We also have to keep the cricketers’ bio-bubble and quarantine in mind. It is not always good to play a lot of cricket, so we have to think about our schedule after this series,”
Akram further added.
