Tigers, Aussies to back in field Sunday
Bangladesh and Australia will begin their preparation for the upcoming five-match T20 international series at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium from today.
The Tigers will train in the morning on the opening day of the two-day practice session ahead of the series opener on August 3 while the Aussies will train in the evening.
Bangladesh are scheduled to train under the lights while the tourists will prepare in the morning on the following day.
Australia’s Covid-19 protocol officer, who is expected to arrive at the SBNS two hours before their team’s practice, will only pass the green signal to his team in order to start from the team hotel if he finds everything in order.
Both the teams completed their mandatory three-day room quarantine in the team hotel on Saturday while they also completed their second PCR test on the same day.
Both the team members came corona negative during the first test, conducted after their arrival from respective destinations on Thursday.
The social media handle is flooded with photographs by the members of both teams which showed how they try to keep them busy through different activities inside their room that generally includes trying some work out to keep them fit.
While cricketers are busy inside their hotel rooms, Bangladesh Cricket Board officials are taking every possible initiative to make sure that they can host the series successfully.
BCB stated on Friday that entry to the SBNS will remain closed to all except essential staff and workers till Saturday to ensure they can complete the last-minute preparation without any kind of disturbance from outside.
It clearly reflects the proximity of this series considering it wasn’t the case when BCB hosted West Indies and Sri Lanka in the new normal environment.
Bangladesh team management will be looking forward to knowing the latest injury update of their three cricketers - Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar and Mustafizur Rahman, who are currently carrying niggles.
Whether they will be available for the whole T20 series against Australia or not can only be seen in the coming days but if they are unable to play, it will be a major blow for the hosts as they are missing some seasoned campaigners.
Mushfiqur Rahim had opted to leave the Zimbabwe tour midway to be with his sick parents and he won't take part in the home series against Australia as well as he missed the deadline of completing 10-day mandatory quarantine, a prerequisite for any cricketer joining the bubble from outside.
Tamim Iqbal, too, isn't available for the series due to his knee rehabilitation which is likely to keep him out for at least two months while the latest blow came in the form of Liton Das’s absence, who is missing this series due to a family reason.
“We are waiting for the physio report about the injury status of the trio and we are hoping for the best but if someone misses out due to injury you can’t help it as no one have any hand in it,” said a member of the selection panel.
“At the same time this is an opportunity for the youngsters as some of the regulars are missing and if they can grab it certainly it will help us in the long run,” he added.
Australia seems to have the same kind of headache as they are also missing several leading cricketers in the series in the likes of Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson.
Australia are yet to name their skipper for the series after their regular captain Aaron Finch was ruled out during their West Indies tour with an injury.
Australia’s wicketkeeper-batsman Ben McDermott is also currently recovering from an injury that he sustained during the Caribbean tour.
