Padma Bridge to be present in West Indies series

The two-Test series between Bangladesh and West Indies will be called, “Padma Bridge Friendship Test series”, confirmed Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan on Wednesday.

Bangladeshi conglomerate Walton will be the associate sponsor in the Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 International series of the tour.

A source said that the decision to name the series “Padma Bridge Friendship Test series” was taken on Wednesday. During the Test series, which will begin on 16 June in Antigua, pictures of the Padma Bridge and prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be kept in the ground’s perimeter.

The BCB president told Prothom Alo, “The company that bought the title rights for the series sent the proposal to the prime minister’s office. From there, we in the board were asked would there be any problem in doing this. We said there won’t be any problems.”

Nazmul Hassan further said, during the Test match photos and videos of the Padma Bridge will be shown on TV.

However, the series is still at risk of getting blacked out in Bangladesh. Total Sports have bought the rights to broadcast the series from Cricket West Indies. But no channel from Bangladesh has bought the rights from Total Sports to broadcast the series in the country.

The BCB president said, “This has never happened that Bangladesh have played a match and it wasn’t shown in TV in Bangladesh. We have to look into why this is happening. Representatives of the company that has bought the rights (Total Sports) are coming to Dhaka today (Wednesday). We will speak with them. We have also sent a letter to Cricket West Indies about this.”