Bangladesh Cricket Board is planning to announce a bigger squad than usual for their tour to Sri Lanka to have players at their disposal in case of sudden sickness or injury during the lengthy series, said a top BCB official.
‘We will announce the team by September 10-15. We will increase the number to 20-22. Things are not that easy, we have to keep ample alternatives. It is a long tour,’ BCB cricket operations chairman Akram Khan told reporters after a meeting on Tuesday.
The three-Test series against Sri Lanka will be the Tiger’s first international engagement since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Bangladesh.
Returning to the game after a long break and without any match practice, cricketers will be more prone to injury and sending reinforcements to Sri Lanka during the pandemic won’t be an easy task.
Hence, the board felt that sending a bigger squad was the safer option and Akram felt it also opened a window of opportunity for players who are out of favour to make a mark.
‘The squad will be bigger. Those who played in the last series, they will be automatic choice. Besides we will play three or four practice matches in Sri Lanka. So the option for the selectors to pick someone from there is also open,’ Akram said.
In the meeting, the board members deliberated on various aspects of their impending tour of Sri Lanka and after it ended Akram informed the reporters about some of the changes made to BCB’s plans.
‘We discussed about the things we had announced earlier, most of the things remain the same. Only one or two things might change slightly.
‘On September 18 samples will be collected from the cricketers at their own residence, on the 20th they will check into a hotel. From September 21 collective training will start for few days and then we will fly for Sri Lanka’, said the former captain.
Akram also said that the players will be tested multiple times before and after boarding the plane to Sri Lanka to ensure health and safety of all.
‘The touring party members will be in quarantine and they will be tested frequently. At first, they will be tested on September 18, then on the 21st and once again before the flight. I have heard that the Sri Lankan board will also run tests frequently.
‘But even after everything if someone is found infected what steps should we take, we will discuss it with the medical team.’
Akram also said that all of the foreign coaching staff of the national team will return to Bangladesh in the first week of September and inferred the likely date for Bangladesh team’s departure to be September 23 or 24.
‘They [coaches] will be coming back early next month. After mandatory quarantine, they will join the training in the ground.’ -new age
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