A bird’s eye view of the Bangabandhu National Stadium

BCB proposes seven venues for 2014 event, Bogra dropped

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has chalked out a plan to host the ICC World Twenty20 in 2014 with eight venues including the coveted Bangabandhu National Stadium primarily earmarked for the tournament. 
The BCB held a meeting with the sports ministry and National Sports Council on Wednesday where the renovation of the venues was discussed in details.
The meeting, however, could not finalise the use of BNS, a perennial apple cart between football and cricket, for the tournament, which will have 54 matches in 20 days’ time, tentatively from April 1-20, 2014.
The BCB has proposed to renovate six stadiums – Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna, Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong, Sylhet Divisional Stadium, Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi and Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium at Fatullah – for the tournament.
‘We have also proposed to host some matches at the BNS. But the decision has to come from the policymakers,’ said Nizmuddin Chowdhury, acting chief executive officer of the BCB. 
‘Once it is decided that the BNS will host matches or any other ceremonies during the tournament, we will sit with the NSC again and give them any plan needed for the renovation.’ 
Bangladesh will be hosting a tournament of such magnitude for the first time as 16 men’s and 10 women’s teams will be participating in the tournament.
Bangladesh was one of the co-hosts for the ICC World Cup in 2011, though they hosted only eight matches and only two stadiums were used. In contrast, the ICC World T20 will be hosted by Bangladesh alone and both men’s and women’s events run together.
According to BCB’s estimate, there will be 39 matches in men’s tournament and 15 games in women’s tournament.  Officials said they will need more than half a dozen venues to host such a high-profile event. 
It was earlier proposed that a stadium would be built in Cox’s Bazar for the tournament though the plan had hardly gained any momentum in the recent past. BCB acting chief executive said they have discussed the possibility of hosting the women’s event in the beach town as some facilities are already in place there. 
‘We can host the women’s event in Cox’s Bazar subject to the development of ground facilities. The meeting was hopeful that it may be possible with the time that we have now,’ he said. 
Interestingly, the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra has not been considered for renovation though it hosted five one-day internationals and a Test match until 2006.
Some of the stadiums proposed for renovation have already had massive construction works on the occasion of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The BCB officials said they still need to be renovated as some new features will be added for the ICC World T20. 
Making of an alternative dressing room in all the stadiums is considered most important as two matches will be played at the venues on the same day.
Sri Lanka, which is hosting the Twenty20 World Cup in September 2012, has already made a second dressing room at the Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium and the renovation works at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium are going on in full swing and will be completed in a month.
‘We need to make an
alternative dressing room as the players of the
second game need to feel comfortable,’ said Syed Abdul Baten, national manager of BCB’s grounds and facilities.
All the stadiums, barring SBNS, also need a modern drainage system while the NSC has been asked to install deep tube-wells in all the stadiums to ensure 24-hour water supply.