Nahid Rana is Bangladesh's first player and their third team member to pull out from the upcoming tour against Pakistan which will comprise of three T20Is. This comes after there was recently an increase in the border tensions between India and Pakistan.
According to a recent statement by Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) cricket operations chairman, Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, Nahid may have withdrawn from the tour after getting 'traumatised' while trying to leave Pakistan during the time of the cross-border tensions with India.
Three of Bangladesh's team members won't be travelling to Pakistan
The BCB chairman also revealed that alongside Nahid, their fielding coach James Pamment and trainer Nathan Kelly won't be travelling with the team to Pakistan either.
"What Nahid Rana and Rishad faced recently, you can't blame them for being traumatised. Which is probably why Rana has withdrawn from the tour. Among the coaching staff, James [Pamment] and Nathan [Keily], who are our fielding coach and trainer, aren't going. The rest are ready to go there," Fahim said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"There were hesitations among few other players. But later, when they saw others are going, they felt that it might not be difficult to go there and they changed their initial position," he added.
Nahid was a part of Pakistan Super League (PSL) side Peshawar Zalmi when the players had to be withdrawn from the tournament. The pacer's Bangladesh teammate, Rishad Hossain was also a part of the Peshawar-based franchise but is participating in the Pakistan series.
Fahim further stated that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi themselves assured the team of providing them the highest security they can.
"I saw during the Champions Trophy how much security is provided in Pakistan. I don't think you can do more than that. The PCB chairman (Mohsin Naqvi) assured us to give the highest security," Fahim concluded.
The T20I series between Bangladesh and Pakistan was originally supposed to be a five-match affair, however the matches soon got reduced to three. All the matches will be played at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore.