DHAKA, Dec 10: Bangladesh’s cricket chief has said that next year’s ICC World Twenty20 is threatened by the country’s deadly political violence, and there may only be weeks to save the tournament.

“If this situation prevails, then any big tournament or participation of any big country will be under threat,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan told reporters late on Monday. “This must end in January and preferably in December.”

The violence has affected almost every city, including the three host venues for the T20 tournament — the capital Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet.

Bangladesh is also due to host a tour by Sri Lanka in January before then staging the Asia Cup.

“The quicker this political situation improves the better because the Sri Lanka tour is in January and then we have the Asia Cup. It needs to be resolved before that,” said Nazmul, who is a ruling party lawmaker.

In Sri Lanka, cricket authorities said they were closely monitoring developments.—AFP