Verdict on BD-Aus series likely today

The fate of Bangladesh's home series against Australia, which has already been dogged by security concerns, is likely to be decided today.

According to Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials, Cricket Australia (CA) is set to make its final call on the two-Test series sometime during today's working hours after being briefed by the three-man security team.

The Bangladesh government tried everything in its power to convince the security team during their two-day stay in Dhaka after the CA stalled the Aussies' departure following DAFT's (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) security update on last Friday which read: "There is reliable information to suggest that militants may be planning to target Australian interests in Bangladesh".

The Bangladesh government even offered the Australian cricket team the kind of security usually reserved for VVIP's.  

But the fate of the series apparently lost considerable ground when CA's head of security Sean Carroll, Australian team manager Gavin Dovey and team security manager Frank Dimasi left Dhaka late Monday night.

The BCB was expecting Dovey and Dimasi, who are full-time members of the Bupa Support Team that accompany Australia's men's squad around the globe for their fixtures, would stay back to avoid a back-and-forth trip assuming that the tour would go on. 

But thighs changed quickly when an Italian national was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Dhaka's diplomatic zone at Gulshan on Monday night.  And immediately after that Australia's concern has been mirrored in the United Kingdom and the US, who have freshly warned their citizens in Bangladesh. It turned more complicated when on Monday night when SITE, an intelligence group website, posted an unverified claim by the Islamist terrorist group ISIS of killing 50-year-old Cesare Tavella.

Australian newspapers, focusing on the murder of the Italian citizen and fresh security alerts by the UK and US in Bangladesh, have already feared that the tour might be scrapped in a day or two. Australian newspapers also quoted an unnamed Australian football federation official as saying that they are monitoring events in Bangladesh ahead of Socceroos' scheduled World Cup qualifying fixture against Bangladesh in Dhaka on November 17.

At the moment, though, it looks like Bangladesh cricket is destined to bleed unless the Aussies brave the security fear and travel to a country that loves the game more than anything else.