Tigers get three-day break as Lankan tour gets postponed
The Bangladesh cricket team was scheduled to leave for Sri Lanka on Sunday. But the uncertainty created by the guideline issue of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health has not yet subsided.
Amid all the dark clouds of uncertainty over Tigers Sri Lanka tour, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have given a three-day break to the cricketers from their training camp. This was informed by the BCB cricket operations chairman Akram Khan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, on Saturday.
Akram said, that they had decided to suspend regular practice for the time being as all previous plans regarding the Sri Lanka tour had been postponed.
According to the previous schedule of the Sri Lanka tour, Saturday was the last day of practice. So the BCB had made a practice schedule till Saturday. But as there was no progress on the tour, Chief Executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury, Operations Chairman Akram Khan, two selectors Minhazul Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar sat in the emergency meeting.
At the end of the meeting, Akram said that they were resting the cricketers for the time being, “We were supposed to leave for Sri Lanka tomorrow (Sunday) but at the moment we are not being able to do so. Head coach (Russel Domingo), selectors and BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury sat for a meeting and decided to give a three-day break to the players. We will return to training after three days and we hope that we will get a positive response from the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) within two-three days,” said Akram Khan.
The cricketers have been staying at the hotel since September 20 as part of the Bio Secure Bubble. The practice session has been going on since that day. Apart from corona positive players Abu Zayed Rahi and Ibadat Hossain, 25 cricketers were practicing at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium regularly from Hotel Sonargaon.
Akram hopes the country's cricket board will receive a positive message from the Sri Lankan health ministry in two to three days. The tour will be delayed by at least 10 days, even if they agree with BCB’s terms and conditions.
“If everything remains positive, we hope to go on the tour sometime between the 7th and 10th of October. Since their Lankan Premier League (LPL) has also been delayed, so they also have time,” Akram added.