On the eve of the two Twenty20 internationals against South Africa, the Bangladesh cricketers enjoyed a rare day-off yesterday. In accordance with the schedule, the Bangladesh squad was supposed to check in at their team hotel in the morning before attending a gym session at the hotel premises in the afternoon.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board however, made some drastic, last-minute changes to the cricketers’ schedule and allowed the national team sponsor to shoot a television commercial at the centre of Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The players reported at the home of cricket at around 10am for the shooting, which continued till 1:30pm.
The shooting was yet to be completed but then again, it had already hampered the schedule of the Tigers and some of the cricketers even left the stadium premises without attending the gym session.
The day however, turned out to be a bitter one as the shooting unit clashed with some photographers from the media. Following the shoot, a photographer of the press started taking photos of the dressing room only to be charged and pushed by a member of the shooting unit, who was unauthorised and had no business gracing his presence there. This incident paved the way for an altercation, which, however, was brought under control by the security staff of the BCB.
The bilateral home series against the Proteas will get underway officially this Sunday through the first T20I at SBNS. But before that, the visitors will face BCB XI today in a T20 warm-up in Fatullah. According to South Africa batsman Jean Paul Duminy, today’s practice match will be vital ahead of the main events against the high-flying Tigers.
In contrast, the upcoming T20Is will be really significant for the home side as the shortest format is proving to be a headache for them. Ever since their inaugural T20I in 2006, the Tigers have played a total of 42 matches. Among them, they have won only 12.
The last time the Tigers encountered the sixth-ranked Proteas in a T20I was back in 2008. Till date, the sides have taken on each other in two T20Is with the Proteas winning both. The Tigers though will not worry too much as they won their previous T20I in a convincing manner, against Pakistan in the one-off match last April.
