LAHORE: The PCB is astonished by the latest stance of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Mustafa Kamal who said Bangladesh would only tour Pakistan if the ICC and its government gave clearance for the same.

Although no senior official in the PCB was willing to comment on Kamal’s remarks, made at a press conference in Dhaka, the insiders said PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf and chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed were both disappointed by the change in the BCB stance.

“As far as getting clearance from its government is concerned, that was a condition from the start and acceptable to the PCB. But this new condition that if only the ICC gave clearance and appointed match officials could the tour go ahead has come out of the blue,” an official speaking on condition of anonymity said on Tuesday.

The official also said that PCB was expecting a positive response from BCB but the whole scenario seems to have changed.

“We were very hopeful that Bangladesh would get clearance for the Pakistan tour as their security delegation went back satisfied with the security arrangements and protocol for their team and even gave some suggestions to improve the security net,” said the PCB official.

Another senior Board official pointed out that Kamal had said during his visit to Pakistan that the BCB wanted to see the revival of international cricket in Pakistan and it would support the PCB to the hilt, but it appears as if the BCB now itself is setting tough conditions for the tour.

Meanwhile, sources said that the top officials in both the cricket boards were unhappy with the ICC stance on the tour. “The ICC is not even willing to send a team to inspect the security protocol we are putting in place for the Bangladesh series. How does the ICC then expect international teams to tour Pakistan?” a source said. A PCB official said they would wait and see the response from the BCB before making any official comments.—Agencies