Bangladesh men’s national team players have started their fitness and conditioning camp at the Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla national cricket stadium under the supervision of fitness and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan on Monday.
Tigers had quite a busy schedule over last few months. They took part in a three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka just after returning from World Cup which followed a tri-nation series in Ireland.
After a short vacation due to Eid, a total of 35 players have been called to the fitness and conditioning camp.
Senior batsman Tamim Iqbal has been granted rest for a month and he is not taking part in the camp. Ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan is also out of the country due to personal reason and will miss the camp initially. But other senior players from the national team including ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza joined the camp on Monday.
Right-handed all-rounder Mahmdullah is confident to bowl for Bangladesh in the upcoming home series involving Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. https://t.co/x9IRZBbmKZ
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) August 18, 2019
After the scheduled session wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and Lion Kumar Das were seen to bat for a longtime near the centre wicket of SBNS.
“We are doing the fitness test after eight months because we have been playing non-stop cricket since October. For me and for the players are to find out where they are and how we need to push them in the next coming months for the upcoming matches. In terms of where they are, I am satisfied, but not fully happy. And it’s understandable because we have not done fitness camp for eight months. So it’s natural, they are not at their best but at the moment they are not in bad position as well. I am happy in that sense,” Mario said to the media.
All-rounders Mahmudullah Riyad and Saifuddin were carrying injuries in recent past and the latter even missed the recently concluded Sri Lanka ODI series. But Mario informed both the players joined the camp on time and performed scheduled tasks in the camp.
“Both Mahmudullah and Saifuddin completed the process today what we needed from them. They are quite satisfactory. But again as I said, they need to push themselves for better situation, Mario said.
#BCB includes 35 for #national #camp https://t.co/dY6zjw4Bmg
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) August 17, 2019
Bangladesh have a lone Test match against Afghanistan in coming month and aT20I series against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe next month. Mashrafe has not played a Test since 2009 and retired from T20s and Bangladesh have no ODIs in recent months. But still ODI skipper is in the camp to improve his fitness which was a major concern for Bangladesh in the World Cup. Mario said team management will perform his fitness test prior to the ODIs but not at the moment.
“We have not got any ODI cricket till next year. So I do not see any reason about doing Mashrafe’s fitness test now as ODI cricket will probably come after six months time. So we will start working with him regarding fitness in the future,” Mario concluded.
