Following an 18-day break, the Bangladesh cricketers got back to business at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday. The 21 leading cricketers of the country reported to national strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan and will work towards enhancing their mental and physical strength over the next few weeks.
The camp was organised to get the cricketers ready for both domestic and international cricket in the next six months.
“Fitness test, that’s all purpose of testing and achieving. We got four weeks to work with them and these four weeks are important for going forward because six months of games is coming up. These four weeks are very important for the next six months,” Villavarayan told the media at SBNS yesterday.
Day one of the conditioning camp was marked with a gym session followed by a bleep test and one round of football game. Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim, ODI and Twenty20 skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza, all-rounders Shakib al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman, top-order batsman Rony Talukdar and paceman Abul Hasan were absent yesterday.
Mushfiq, who is suffering from fever, is on sick leave while Mashrafe and Shakib are out of the country. Mashrafe is expected to return to the capital this Tuesday while Shakib is all set to come back this Thursday.
Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal reported for the camp on time but underwent a different routine as opposed to the bleep test. The hard-hitting southpaw was seen running around the centre field of SBNS alone under the supervision of Villavarayan.
“He did extra. He is running separately. He is not going to do bleep test. He did test running,” said Villavarayan. The Sri Lanka-born coach said Tamim performed a separate routine due to an injury in his knee.
Villavarayan also informed that he is concerned with the fitness of national spinner Sohag Gazi.
“[Gazi] was away from cricket for a long time. Hopefully he will work with us for the next four or six weeks and try to take up his fitness level,” said Villavarayan.
The cricketers will continue with their physical training routine till September 5. It is expected that national head coach Chandika Hathurusingha will then join the camp and make the cricketers work on their skill development.
The Tigers’ upcoming assignment is at home against Australia this October. The Aussies are scheduled to arrive on September 28 for two Test matches, beginning on October 9 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. The second and final Test will get underway in Mirpur on October 17.