The World T20 venue must not slip away

The last six months have not been very pleasant for Bangladesh. Time and again chaotic incidents took place and frustrated the whole nation. Unpleasant political situations marred by ugly exhibitions by the political activists, the horrifying Savar tragedy, the risk of cyclone Mahasen and the recent spot-fixing controversy have left the nation crestfallen.

The nation wishes to forget those tumultuous six months and move on but I think lady luck is not with us. The Bangladeshi cricket fans received a blow when they came to know that the ICC World Twenty20 may not take place in Bangladesh. It seems that the prophets of doom and gloom have fallen in love with this nation.

Very recently the ICC officials came to inspect the venues of the upcoming World Twenty20 which is going to be staged next year. Sadly the ICC officials were not happy with the conditions of some of the stadiums and raised doubts over Bangladesh's abilities to host the mega event.

The tournament is scheduled to be played at four venues in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6, 2014. The overall facilities with the Mirpur and Chittagong stadium were overwhelming, but the work on the facilities of the Sylhet stadium, which was built last year, isn't up to the mark, while the construction work at the new stadium in Cox's Bazar is still underway. This situation let the ICC to propose Sri Lanka and South Africa as the alternatives venues.

But Nazmul Hasan & Co. managed to get a lifeline from the ICC during ICC's annual conference last month in London. The ICC has given Bangladesh August deadline, within which the country must satisfy ICC officials regarding the preparedness of the stadiums.

So Bangladesh have just one month or so in their hand to achieve a satisfactory standard. But it's an uphill task. The stadiums at Sylhet and Cox's Bazar are still under construction and the way the whole work is progressing, it doesn't give any hope. Bangladesh can bring in Fatullah and BKSP cricket grounds into the picture but that too would warrant an ICC satisfactory certificate.

Again, there is a school of thought that the ICC is reluctant to stage the tournament in Bangladesh because of the upcoming elections. The year 2014 is the election year in Bangladesh and whether it will be held in a peaceful manner or not remains a moot question. The main Opposition Party of Bangladesh has proposed the ruling party to stage the election under the caretaker government while the ruling party has denied this proposal and remains firm in their stance. Unnecessary chaos is expected to occur if both the parties don't reach an acceptable solution.

On that note, Bangladesh's chances of hosting the event appear thin. But this chance must not slip out of our hands. It's a matter of Bangladesh's prestige.