Bangladesh will celebrate the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of the nation, in the next calendar year (2020). In this celebration, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will organise two T20 matches between Asia XI and World XI.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born on 17th March 1920 in Tungipara, a village in Gopalganj District. So, every year on 17th March, Bangladesh celebrates the birth anniversary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The entire country celebrates this day through the national holiday.
Recently, the BCB has revealed their plan to celebrate this special occasion with two T20 matches. In these both T20 matches, Asia XI will face the Rest of World XI.
The top Asian cricketers, including the Bangladesh cricket stars, will represent Asia XI. On the other hand, the other top continental cricketers will serve for the Rest of World XI.
The BCB is trying to bring the current best T20 players for this special occasion.
The BCB President Nazmul Hasan said, “There will be a matter of availability if they [the players] have international duties. I think only two teams will be busy at the time, but they won’t be playing T20s, so we might get their T20 players. We are looking for the best players among the current lot, and because the games will have international status, everyone will be serious about it.”
The BCB claimed that one of these matches would gain the T20I status
During the last week meeting at the ICC Annual Conference in London, the BCB requested to allow both these matches as the T20I matches. However, the members have allowed considering one of these games to run in international status.
In a general way, at least one Full Member nation needs to participate in an international cricket match.
The BCB President added, “They made a special dispensation for Bangladesh, but they said it is only a one-off that such a match will get international status.”
Once again, the iconic Shere Bangla National Stadium (Mirpur, Dhaka) will host both these T20I matches. Asia XI and World XI will face each other in this contest on 18th and 21st March 2020.