If The ACC Decides That It Is Not Possible To Hold The Asia Cup, Bangladesh Will Hold 37 Cricketers’ Camp:
The Bangladesh Cricket Board is waiting for the fate of the Asia Cup to decide on a training camp for national cricketers. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will meet on July 9 to decide if the tournament can be held. If there is a green signal in this regard, Bangladesh will pick a 24-member squad from the camp in July-August to prepare specifically for white-ball cricket.
At the last ACC meeting on 8 June, the possibility of holding a tournament in Sri Lanka emerged, taking into account the situation of COVID-19 in the region. “We ‘re just going to have to wait and see what happens in the next two-three weeks. Swapping with Sri Lanka made sense because the Covid-19 situation is stronger there than in the rest of the sub-continent,” Ehsan Mani, leader of the PCB, told the media.
However, if the ACC determines that it is not possible to hold the Asia Cup, Bangladesh will hold a camp for 37 cricketers, with a focus on fitness before going on to skill-based training, BCB Chief Selector Minhajul Abedin told Cricbuzz on Saturday (July 4).
“There is a meeting on July 9 and we expect a clear picture of the tournament after that meeting. If the Asia Cup is played, we will pick a 24-member squad for the training camp scheduled for July-August, which will be packed with white ball cricketers,” said Minhajul.
“If the Asia Cup isn’t on the cards, we ‘re going to set up a camp with 37 cricketers, who concentrate primarily on fitness in the initial stage, before moving on to skill training.”
Since mid-March, there have been no cricket operation in Bangladesh following the outbreak of the virus. Although some of the other nations have been slowing down to get their cricket back on track, Bangladesh has not made much progress and the BCB headquarters, which comes under the red zone in one of the hardest-hit areas in Dhaka, has remained locked.
“Both cricketers have been out of the field for around four months, so we’re initially planning to concentrate more on fitness than anything else. It’s supposed to be three weeks and we’ll be switching to skill training later,” said Minhjaul. “We ‘re going to take recommendations from the medical board because they’re going to be involved in the camp. It’s likely that we’re going to have training (sessions) in three sections by breaking up the cricketers participating in the camp,” he said.
At the beginning of June, the BCB refused to ask the leading cricketers in the country to resume their personal training at the Sher-e – Bangla National Stadium. However, earlier this month, a press release from the BCB reported that all of its grounds were being prepared for the resumption of cricket.
The premises comply with the health and safety requirements as set out in the BCB guidelines, and staff has been advised to follow the sanitization procedure. Despite the challenges of ensuring an adequate workforce during this period, a sufficient number of cleaners have been made available at BCB facilities.
“We are very aware of the fact that we need to get our cricketers back on the field sooner rather than later. The resumption process will start with preparation and, for that reason, we have kept our grounds and facilities fully prepared and functional,” said Nizamuddin Chowdhury, Chief Executive Officer of BCB, in a press release.
