Hasina says yes to Eden Test, CAB to also invite Modi

Kolkata:

Bangladesh

Prime Minister Sheikh

Hasina

has accepted an invitation from

Cricket

Association of Bengal (CAB) to attend the second Test between India and Bangladesh in Kolkata next month.

Hasina will land in the city on November 21 and will be present at Eden Gardens on November 22, the opening day. If everything goes according to plan, she will be joined by her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The last time the trio attended a public function together was in May 2018, at the convocation of Visva-Bharati in Santiniketan.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has confirmed that she will come for the match,” CAB president Sourav Ganguly said on Monday. “We will send invitations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee to be present on the first day of the Test,” he added.

According to sources, Modi will be in the city that day to attend a cultural programme.Chances of his accepting the invitation are high. In such an eventuality, the PMs will meet, but there is no confirmation on whether there will be formal talks between them on issues like the Teesta water dispute.

It was on Monday that Bangladesh players announced in Dhaka that they won’t participate in any cricketing activity until their demands were met. But Ganguly said he was optimistic that the issue will be resolved soon. “That is their internal matter. But I am hopeful that it will be sorted out before the India series. They will surely come,” he stated.

To make the first-ever Indo-Bangla Test match at the Eden even more memorable, the CAB has planned to invite members of the Bangladesh team which had played the country’s inaugural Test match — against India in November 2000 in Dhaka. “I have requested the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to invite its players of that Test match,” Ganguly said. “And as BCCI president (he takes charge at the BCCI AGM on Wednesday), I will invite members of that Indian side too,” he said.

Incidentally, Ganguly himself was captain in that match, which India won by nine wickets. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath were some of the notable members of that team, while the Naimur Rahman-led Bangladesh team included the likes of Habibur Bashar, Akram Khan and Khaled Mashud.

To attract more people to the Eden for the Test, the CAB has slashed the prices of daily tickets too.