Bangladesh national cricket team management will sit for a meeting Tuesday to set the course for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka for two Tests, and also the squad.
Despite the rise in Covid-19 cases in both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it is understood that Bangladesh Cricket Board is confident of the series taking place as per schedule.
Bangladesh is currently observing a week-long lockdown from Monday onwards due to the rising number of cases and deaths due to Covid-19.
Under the circumstances, BCB has suspended the National Cricket League, but is still hosting South Africa emerging cricket team according to schedule in Sylhet.
The national cricketers, since their return from a disastrous tour of New Zealand Sunday, have been asked to stay at home until there are directives from the board.
BCB at the moment has decided to rest the cricketers and not resume training before boarding the flight to Sri Lanka next Monday.
“We are planning to announce the Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour in the next couple of days. However, we are not planning to have a bigger squad this time around in Sri Lanka as we picked for the New Zealand tour. We are confident Mushfiqur Rahim will recover ahead of the Sri Lanka tour after he got injured and was unable to take part in the T20 series in New Zealand,” selector Habibul Bashar told the media Monday.
Sri Lanka have appointed their former national coach Tom Moody as director of cricket effective Monday as part of a revamp of cricket operations, the governing body of the sport in the country said Sunday.
Posted by Sports Tribune on Sunday, 28 February 2021
Bangladesh’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka was originally scheduled for last year.
It first got postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and later again in September when BCB refrained from traveling to the island due to conditions set in the Covid-19 protocol by the hosts.
Sri Lanka later relaxed its Covid-19 protocols for a touring England side in January this year where the visitors were asked to isolate for three days after landing in Sri Lanka before being allowed to practice among themselves for the next four days.
A similar plan has been set for Bangladesh, which the BCB has agreed upon.
However, with the fresh rise in Covid-19 infection in both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it remains to be seen if there are changes in the protocol which have already been agreed between BCB and Sri Lanka Cricket.
Bangladesh will play both the Tests at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy.
The first Test is scheduled to start on April 21 and the second on April 29.
The visitors are also scheduled to play an inter-squad two-day game on April 17 and 18 at Chilaw Marians Cricket Club Ground in Katunayake.
