Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will reduce the number of players selected in the squad for the forthcoming tour of West Indies to cut costs.
The selectors, media manager and board appointed physicians also won’t be accompanying the team in the Caribbean islands to reduce expenses, confirmed a source from the BCB.
The BCB president Nazmul Hasan had hinted about taking steps to reduce tour costs on Thursday, after a board meeting.
He told the newspersons, “We are noticing that the expenses have greatly increased. I’m not talking about Bangladesh. A lot of things have become more expensive. For example, the airfare that was earlier Tk 300,000-400,000, is currently Tk 1-1.1 million. Hotel fare used to be $250 at most, it’s now $400-500.”
The board president further said, “In today’s (Thursday) meeting we have decided that we need to reduce our expenses. We used to send extra players, staff (in overseas tours) as added precaution for the Covid situation. But the situation has changed. Moreover, as we can’t predict how expensive things will be abroad, the board has been told to overall reduce budget.”
The cost reduction measures will begin from the tour of West Indies. Nazmul Hasan said, “It will start from the West Indies tour. Non-essential people will be most likely taken off the tour. That means the number of players could also get reduced.”
But he didn’t say who could get dropped from the team.
The BCB has already announced three separate squads for the West Indies tour. Sixteen players have been named for the two-Test series. The One-Day International and Twenty20 squads have 17 and 15 members respectively.
The first Test will commence on 16 June and the second Test on 24 June. After the Tests, the teams will square off in a three-match T20 series, starting on 2 July. Finally, the three-match ODI series will begin on 10 July.