Bangladesh Cricket Board is slowly gaining confidence on having cricket back in full flow amid persisting Covid-19 concerns.
The board is getting the encouragement from the BCB President’s Cup, and also after having operated a bio-secure residential camp for almost a month now without any Covid-19 cases from inside the camp.
After cricket was suspended for over six months, BCB first allowed the cricketers to avail board facilities for individual practice sessions under special arrangement in August.
The next step was turning the practice sessions into sessions of small groups, and finally, the whole national set-up assembled on September 20 with the impending ambition of touring Sri Lanka later that month for a three-match Test series.
The tour however, got postponed for indefinite period after BCB rejected the Covid-19 health security plans from Sri Lanka.
The BCB though was quick to implement a back-up plan, starting with a couple of two-day games, followed by the 50-over President’s Cup, involving 48 cricketers, divided into three teams.
There are wide discussions over performance of the core national cricketers in the tournament, but BCB director and chairman of the media and communications committee Jalal Younus is happy to overlook the matter as, for him, the most important thing is cricket is being staged smoothly albeit the fear of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Being able to host the President’s Cup amid Covid-19 concern is encouraging, we have cricket back on the field after a long time. There are discussions that the cricketers are not being upto the mark with the performance but you have to consider the fact that they are back to the field after a long break so that has to have some affect on them,” said Jalal to Dhaka Tribune Sunday.
Shariful and Mustafizur react Dhaka Tribune/Md Manik
“IPL [India Premier League Twenty20] has been running for a month now but still even the best of the players are being dropped, there have been lots of misfielding, even Virat Kohli has not been able to maintain his peak form. The important thing for us [BCB] is that we have been able to start the game finally,” the BCB official explained.
BCB is mulling a five-team corporate T20 tournament with the participation of the local cricketers following the President’s Cup where health security arrangements will be similar to those of now, but in a larger scale.
There are discussions on resuming this year’s Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, but that will require a different level of set-up, bearing in mind the involvement of 12 clubs and running three matches per day.
Then there is also the fact that the decision of the premier 50-over cricket tournament of the country resuming doesn’t solely depend on BCB, but also on the situation of the clubs.
Apart from domestic cricket, a successful completion of the President’s Cup and the corporate T20 will boost BCB’s intention to start international cricket at home.
The two tournaments are being considered as pilot project for the board in order to set up their bio-security plan which will be required when inviting or hosting an international team at home.
As of now, Bangladesh in scheduled to host the West Indies in January next year.
“It was a challenge for us to see if we can create a bio-bubble and play. So this tournament is a test for us and if get to finish this without any issues it will be a big achievement for BCB in terms of managing the health safety of the cricketers and others that are involved. Holding this tournament will come as a big experience for us with regards to hosting a big tournament or international series. We will know what to do and have a health security plan ready. So this tournament is important for us both on and off the field,” said Jalal.
