Sourav Ganguly lauded as Australia reportedly plans to avoid hosting Bangladesh again

Bangladesh played their first Test in the year 2000 and also became just the 10th country to gain full membership under ICC. Cricket Australia had played an instrumental role in Bangladesh's formative years of Test status. Moreover, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) game development, vision and structure we highly influenced by the Australian model and the cricketing boards of both nations had long-term agreements in place to help Bangladesh cricket prosper.

Australia cricket schedule 2021: CA criticized for ignoring smaller cricket playing nations

However, one of the major reasons behind Bangladesh Cricket's limited growth in Test cricket has been Australia who have always shown reluctance in playing them. The Aussies last hosted Bangladesh for Tests way back in mid-2003 and since then, the cricketing giants have hosted every other Test-playing nation except Ireland and Afghanistan, who they are set to host in the near future.

Australia were supposed to host Bangladesh for two Tests and three ODIs in 2018 before the tour was called off after CA cited financial reasons. Moreover, as per the Australia cricket schedule 2021, Bangladesh are not set to tour the continent for the rest of the current cycle till 2023, which means it will be two decades since Bangladesh played a Test Down Under.

The five-time World Champions have been flouting the FTP often to not host Bangladesh. In fact, they also pushed back Afghanistan last year to ensure that India plays a full summer there. Prior to the IPL 2021, Cricket Australia scapped the tour to South Africa due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, they were fine with their players featuring in the IPL where the COVID situation was worsening. With only two-three countries competing with each other, smaller cricket playing nations aren't getting the much-needed exposure to shine at the international level.

However, on the other hand, the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI is allowing smaller countries to play with them despite a cramped schedule. In November 2019, India hosted Bangladesh for a two-match Test series which also included the historic Day-Night Test (India's first). They also played a solitary Test against Afghanistan in June 2018. Sourav Ganguly's inclusive nature has been lauded by the cricketing fraternity, including ex-South Africa captain and current team director, Graeme Smith whereas Cricket Australia has been criticized for their constant ignorance of the smaller cricketing nations.

IPL suspension timeline

Trouble started mounting when Match 30 between KKR and RCB got postponed after two of the KKR players, Sandeep Warrier and Varun Chakravarthy, tested positive for COVID. Later, three people in the CSK team including CEO Kasi Viswanathan and bowling coach L. Balaji also tested positive. As KKR played their previous match against Delhi Capitals, the whole Delhi Capitals team had to undergo quarantine. The IPL suspension announcement was made after SRH player Wriddhiman Saha also tested positive along with Amit Mishra from Delhi Capitals.

This caused the whole Sunrisers Hyderabad team to go into quarantine. Therefore, Match 31 between the 2016 winners and the title-holders Mumbai Indians got cancelled as a result of which the Indian Premier League Governing Council (IPL GC) and the Sourav Ganguly-led Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to suspend the competition with immediate effect with no other alternatives before them. It will be interesting to see when how the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI stages the remainder of the IPL 2021 in a packed international cricketing calendar. 

SOURCE: AP