England’s visit much more than just another series

On Friday, there will be a collective sigh of relief in Bangladesh. Their cricket team will take on England in the first ODI with talk surrounding on the importance of starting well in a three-match series, and how the home side are slight favourites.

Mashrafe Mortaza has downplayed that tag, and said that England’s middle to lower-order poses a major challenge to his bowling attack who return to one-day cricket after a gap of ten months against Afghanistan last week. Tickets for the game have been sold quickly and while there will be unprecedented security in the Mirpur area, which means that every ticket-holder would have to walk at least half a kilometre, and much of what they carry won’t be allowed inside, a sell-out crowd is a given.

But the very thought of seeing England in Bangladesh in 2016 seemed improbable just three months ago. Outrage and numbness took over the country for weeks after the July 1 Holey Artisan attack that left 22 hostages and two policemen dead. Going to restaurants (those not as high-end as Holey Artisan) had developed as one of the rare past-times for those living in Dhaka but after the attack, people felt the unease of a terrifying ordeal waiting to happen.

Thankfully, the situation slowly calmed down as the security agencies cracked open one terrorists’ den after another across the country. The unease will probably take a lot longer to go away – if it ever does entirely – but there would have been a huge hole in Bangladesh life had England not agreed to continue with …

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