BCB Requests BCCI To Allow MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli And Others To Play For Asia XI: Report

Bangladesh will host Asian all-star XI and World XI next year to celebrate the 100th birthday of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan has already confirmed about the series. In July this year, the BCB supremo had confirmed that both the games will get international status. The two matches will be played on March 18 and 21, 2020 in Mirpur.

“The dates of the matches have been finalized. The matches will take place between March 18 and March 21. We have not contacted anyone yet, but players from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will take part alongside the Bangladesh cricketers in Asia XI,” Nazmul had said.

In the past too, games like these have taken place. In 2005, Australia had hosted a World XI side for ODI and Test series. Two years later, an African XI had visited India for an ODI and T20I series against Asia XI. A couple of years ago too, Pakistan had hosted a World XI side for a three-match T20I series.

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Indian players to play for Asian XI?

BCB has reportedly asked Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to allow the big names of Indian cricket to play in the forthcoming series. According to Sports Tak, they have requested the Indian board to allow the likes of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rohit Sharma to play in the series.

The report further claimed that BCB is also in talks with the boards of other countries for the same purpose. They also claimed that the series between Asian XI and World XI could mark the return of MS Dhoni in international cricket. The former India captain has not played a competitive game since the end of the World Cup in July.

Meanwhile, it would be interesting to see whether BCCI accepts the request from BCB or not. The BCB had recently accepted BCCI’s proposal of playing the day-night Test and would be hopeful of getting a favour in return.