Sri Lanka men’s national cricket team reached Dhaka on Sunday for the three-match one-day international series against hosts Bangladesh. The tourists reached the capital presenting negative Covid-19 certificates and were taken to the hotel where they will undergo the mandatory three-day quarantine.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief physician Debashish Chowdhury while explaining the quarantine process for Sri Lanka team informed they will be allowed into the training facilities only after testing negative in a series of Covid-19 tests.
“They will be under same heath protocol which Bangladesh team was under during their tour of Sri Lanka (in April-May). Strict quarantine will be followed in the first three days in the team hotel. They will not be allowed to step outside their respective rooms. There will be two Covid-19 tests before they are allowed to train. The training will be amongst them only. We (Bangladesh team) had followed the same protocol when we toured Sri Lanka (for the two-match Test series),” explained Debashish to the media on Sunday.
“The protocol has been set following advisory of the health ministry. We are following the protocol as per the directions of the government,” the BCB official added.
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BCB has also set bio-bubble security for the hotel management that will be serving the two teams. The arrangement has become stricter after the India Premier League T20 incident.
The biggest T20 league of the world got suspended earlier this month after an increase in coronavirus cases among players and officials. It is being suspected that the virus penetrated the bio secured bubble of the teams through hotel stuff and other officials as they were not part of the bubble and was allowed to roam freely.
The Bangladesh cricketers that are part of the series have started Covid-19 tests and negative results will allow them to join the camp set to start on Tuesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will play intra-squad 50-over practice matches ahead of the series. Bangladesh cricketers will play the practice game on Thursday at BKSP Ground 4 while Sri Lanka will play their game on Friday at BKSP Ground 3.
Meanwhile, solution of the broadcast crew for the series came in by appointing personnel who had recently been part of production of the series between Pakistan and hosts Zimbabwe. Usually cricket series in Bangladesh is produced with major presence of professional from India and South Africa. However, strict Covid-19 protocol set by the government for people travelling from the two countries had put the board in a spot of bother.
The three-match series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is set to begin on May 23. The second and the third game will be played on May 25 and 28 respectively. All the matches will be played at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
