Bangladesh are scheduled to leave Dhaka this Monday for their 45-day long tour of the island nation.
The three-day long camp will emphasise mostly on the fitness of cricketers.
Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal and all-rounders Shakib al Hasan and Mahmudullah however, will be missing the short camp at the home of cricket. The trio is currently in Dubai participating in the second edition of the Pakistan Super League T20. They will directly join the Test squad in Sri Lanka.
Alongside the experienced trio, a few national cricketers were also involved in action. Wicketkeeper-batsman Liton Das, batsmen Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes and Mosaddek Hossain and pacers Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam took part in the fourth round of the Bangladesh Cricket League.
Opener Imrul was kept out from the Test squad, given that the left-hander is still recovering from thigh injury. Imrul’s participation in the BCL is part of his rehabilitation. The regular Test opener will be kept under observation in the fifth round of the franchise based first-class tournament BCL, beginning this Sunday, and only significant recovery can get him into the team for the second and final Test match against Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on paceman Mustafizur Rahman, who is set to join the camp after missing the one-off Test against host India earlier this month. The team management, while announcing the squad for the India Test, felt Mustafizur was not 100 percent match fit for a return to five-day cricket.
The left-arm pacer was made to play a couple of rounds in the BCL for Prime Bank South Zone. And following notable progress, he was called back to the national fold. According to the chief of the national selection panel, Minhajul Adebin Nannu, Mustafizur is now fit to play all three formats.
Bangladesh will begin their first bilateral tour of Sri Lanka since 2013 with a two-day warm-up game against local opposition, starting this Thursday in Moratuwa.
The two-match Test series begins in Galle on March 7 while the second five-dayer will be held in Colombo’s P Sara Oval, starting March 15.
Before the action moves into the three-match ODI series, the Tigers will play a 50-over warm-up game. The venue for the practice match is yet to be decided.
The first two ODIs will be played in Dambulla on March 25 and 28 while the third match will be held at Sinhalese Sports Ground in Colombo on April 1. The bilateral series will end with the two-match T20I series, to be played on April 4 and 6.
Both the matches will be held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
