[cricman]

IT'S GOING to be a long time before Bangladesh play in India again. Following extremely poor response from the spectators for the matches involving Bangladesh, the BCCI is actively considering snapping up the reciprocal system- the guiding principle in bilateral series - with the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

As per the system BCCI is working on, the BCCI will not host the minnows in any bilateral series. Instead, it will send its teams more often to Bangladesh. India visited Bangladesh for a Test series in 2004 and is likely to visit again after the World Cup. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will not play any series in India.

When asked what made the BCCI think of changing the existing system, a BCCI official said it was being done purely to keep the spectators' interest alive in the game. "We have witnessed a poor response from the spectators involving Bangladesh in Champions Trophy and prior to it. Since cricket is spectators' game, there is no point in hosting matches which doesn't even have few hundred people watching it," he said. On the contrary, he said, we will have packed-to-capacity stadiums if Bangladesh play India in their own backyard.

Denying that commercial interest had any role in the move, the official said the Board would get the telecast rights money irrespective of who India were playing. But even after agreeing to what the official maintained, there can't be two opinions about the nosedive the gate-money takes. And given the high pricing of the tickets, it is a considerable loss to even cash-rich BCCI.
But would it be acceptable to Bangladesh Board? "Well we hope they should not have any problems as what we are planning is in the interest of the game," he said.

Besides, he said, it was also in the interest of Bangla cricket as well. "Cricket in Bangladesh will come up more quickly when the teams from outside go and play there rather than them going out. The local standard always goes up when we have better teams coming over," the official said.

http://in.sports.yahoo.com/061015/32/68ici.html

Hell yeah I have an issue and the BCB better not get pushed around by the BCCI like this unless India is willing to come over this November and play us.