DHAKA: Australia will visit Bangladesh for five Twenty20 Internationals early next month, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Thursday.

The visitors will land on July 29 ahead of the matches on Aug 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, likely behind closed doors.

BCB chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said that the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic made organising the tour ‘a challenge’.

“I am pleased to say that a comprehensive bio-security plan is in place and will be implemented during the tour for the protection of players and staff of the two teams and the match officials,” he said.

Bangladesh is in the middle of a major surge in Covid-19 cases. A strict lockdown will resume next week following a break for the Eid al-Adha.

More than a million Bangladeshis have now been infected and over 18,000 have died — figures seen as a gross undercount.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2021