Sports Desk:

Bangladesh batsman Anamul Haque Bijoy and pacer Taskin Ahmed failed to onboard the United Arab Emirates-bound flight with their colleagues due to visa complications to participate in the Asia Cup starting this week.

A 15-man Bangladesh team left for the UAE at 5:15 pm on Tuesday to encounter the six-nation regional competition that starts on August 27, with the three-time finalists scheduled to commence their campaign by taking on Afghanistan on August 30.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board media committee chairman, Tanvir Ahmed Titu confirmed to New Age that the Tigers’ duo couldn’t fly on time as the Asian Cricket Council couldn’t manage their visa until Tuesday morning, which eventually delayed them.

‘ACC has taken the responsibility of issuing visas for our players. However, they couldn’t manage the UAE visa for Anamul and Taskin until yesterday [Monday] morning, so they failed to fly on time,’ said Tanvir.

However, he assured us that the existing issue would be solved by today.

‘We are hoping that their visa issue will be solved by today [Wednesday],’ he added.

Bangladesh, slated in group B of the tournament, will play their second and final group phase match against Sri Lanka on September 1.