Bangladesh Cricket Board officials said on Tuesday that they will end their preparation for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup by playing a tri-nation series in New Zealand.
The series, is expected to start on October 7 or 8 and with New Zealand and Pakistan being the other two teams and will be played at Christchurch. It will be Bangladesh’s last T20 international assignment before the global event of the shortest format, scheduled in Australia in October-November.
“The tri-series in New Zealand will be our last international T20 assignment before the ICC WCT20,” BCB cricket operation chairman Jalal Yunus told reporters at Chattogram on Tuesday.
“Though it is yet to be finalized (third team of the tri-series) but most probably Pakistan will be the other team apart from the host New Zealand,” he said.
Bangladesh will have a seven to eight days camp in Adelaide before leaving to play the tri-series in Christchurch. During the camp in Adelaide, the tourists are expected to play a few T20s against a domestic team in Australia.
Bangladesh will also play a three-match T20 series against West Indies and Zimbabwe apart from taking part in the Asia Cup before moving to Adelaide for the last segment of their World Cup preparation.
Meanwhile, Jalal Yunus said that they are unsure about Tamim Iqbal's availability for the tournament.
Tamim Iqbal earlier on January 27 said that he had taken a six-month break from the shortest format but a formal announcement regarding his ICC T20 World Cup is yet to be announced.
“Tamim Iqbal is one of the senior players in our side and he understands his position better than anyone else. You all know we had a meeting with him regarding this. He had told you (media) exclusively about his plan and now what we have to say,” said Jalal.
“After completing the six months period he will officially tell you about his decision and you will know through him about his plan and I cannot say anything about it,” he said.
“We have tried during the last three to four months and he said that he had taken the decision considering his career and future and we pay full respect to that,” he said.