The Bangladesh national cricket team remained almost ‘closed doors’ for the second day running on Tuesday as they started the preparation camp at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur ahead of their tour to the UAE and Pakistan later this month.
The preparation camp began a day after the BCB announced a 16-man squad for the two series on Sunday, with Liton Das being named as the new T20 captain.
However, there was little opportunity for the media to cover the practice session as the BCB opened it for just 15 minutes in the last two days. The camp is scheduled to run until May 12.
Liton Das, the newly appointed captain, hasn’t started practice full-fledgedly as the wicketkeeper-batter is recovering from an injury to his finger that forced him to return to the country from Pakistan without playing any match in the PSL.
However, Nahid Rana, who was called up to the T20 squad for the first time, and Rishad Hossain will be unable to attend the practice camp due to their commitments with PSL. Rishad is playing for Lahore Qalandars while Rana is representing Peshawar Zalmi.
Rishad, the young leg-spinner, has so far taken nine wickets from his five outings whereas pace sensation Nahid is yet to feature in any match for his country.
The duo could miss the two-match series against the UAE, which is scheduled to start on May 17. The second match will be held on May 19.
Meanwhile, the PSL is scheduled to run until May 18, with both Rishad’s and Rana’s teams in contention for the play-offs.
Considering everything, national team chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain has already indicated that they don’t want to rush the duo to take part in the series against the UAE.
Apart from Rishad and Nahid, several other players were yet to join the training camp for the national team.
Opening batter Parvez Hossain, batter Shamim Hossain, spinner Tanvir Islam, and pacer Shoriful Islam are all busy with the Bangladesh ‘A’ team’s series against their New Zealand counterparts in Sylhet.
The first one-day match was on Monday, where the hosts won convincingly by seven wickets. Parvez and others will join the national team camp after the second one-day, which is set to take place at the same venue today.
The Bangladesh national team is set to pass a very busy schedule. After the two-match series against the UAE, they will take part in a five-match T20 series against Pakistan. That series will begin on May 25.
Bangladesh will then travel to Sri Lanka for a full-fledged series where they will take part in two Tests, three ODIs and as many T20Is between June 17 and July 16.
In August, the Tigers will host India in a three-match ODI and the same number of T20I series. There will also be an Asia Cup in India in September.
