PM’s love for cricket, surprised ICC president

International Cricket Council (ICC) President Greg Berkeley has arrived in Bangladesh on a two-day short visit. During his visit to Bangladesh, he inspected several infrastructural developments of BCB. Berkeley has visited the Sheikh Hasina Cricket Stadium under construction to the beautiful Sylhet International Cricket Stadium wrapped in a tea garden. The President of the highest governing body of cricket also paid a courtesy visit to the Prime Minister.

During the tour, Berkeley went to the field to watch the second match of the ongoing Test series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He was accompanied by Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hasan Papon and other BCB officials. When he (Berkeley) came to the field, Mominul Haque’s team was struggling to cope with the Sri Lankan pace attack. The Tigers lost five important wickets within 24 runs.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das finished the day with an unbeaten partnership of 253 runs. The Tigers have come back to the game with two centuries. At that moment, the BCB boss went to Sylhet by helicopter with Berkeley. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina then sent a text message to Papon to know an update on the match. The ICC President himself was shocked to see the Prime Minister’s love for cricket.

Papon said, ”The Prime Minister has asked what is the status of the game. I said, ”I don’t have the courage to watch the game. I am not listening to the news before going to the field. ” I was shocked when I came to the field. Mushfiqur and Liton deserve special praise for the way they played. The way Mushfiqur and Liton handled the pressure after losing 5 wickets for 24 runs is remarkable. ”

Papon added: “I’m sure Berkeley is shocked to think that the prime minister of a country can love cricket so much. She had a medical appointment today, but she had met the ICC chairman earlier. Even when I was in the helicopter, she gave an SMS after the century of Liton-Mushfiqur. ”

Seeing the first part of the match, the BCB boss expressed his regret. He told reporters in a funny way, ”I will go to the cardiologist first (laughs) and talk to him tomorrow. Had he been on the field at that time, he would have had a heart attack. By the grace of God, I was not. ”