38 cricketers to undergo Covid-19 test thrice before SL tour

All of the 38 players, who will be in the preliminary squad for the Sri Lanka bound national team must undergo COVID-19 test thrice before heading to the Island nation, said the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), reports BSS.

The squad though will be 15-member, BCB will conduct the test of the so many players in a bid to avoid to run out of the options.

Bangladesh played their last international match back in March this year against Zimbabwe. Since then, all of the cricketers were stuck at home before starting an individual training programme before the Eid, which is still going on.

Chief selector Minhajul Abedin Nannu said they would announce a preliminary squad in the first week of September but the main squad, consisting 15 members, will be declared in Sri Lanka.

“Here we are taking more players, like 20-22 people. We will make the whole squad in the first week of September. Final 15-member squad will be named after reaching Sri Lanka,” he said here today.

“We have a pool of 38 players. Everyone will be tested for COVID-19 because the rest of the players will be as our back up. At the same time our HP team is also going there. We’ll conduct three COVID-19 tests here and another test will be done after reaching Sri Lanka. In fact, if you don’t test twice, you won’t understand who is negative,” Nannu, the former Bangladesh skipper, added.

He went on to say: “We played the last Test match in the Zimbabwe series, so we haven’t played here for a long time. But we have a lot of practice matches going there in Sri Lanka because all in all, the practice there is very important.”

The High Performance team will also travel with the national team and play some matches together to help Mominul Haque and company for better practice. The sample of the players will be collected from the home, said BCB director and High Performance team chairman Naimur Rahman Durjoy MP.

“HP is pretty much the same. Since most of the national team players are at home, their samples will be collected from their homes. HP players who are at home, will give their sample from their home and the rest will be brought to the National Cricket Academy to be tested,” Durjoy, also Bangladesh’s first Test captain said.

Durjoy said that HP team has no problem with the coaching staff as they had already finalized the head coach.

“We have no problem with the coaching staff. The head coach is almost finalised. I am waiting for his final clearance. Bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake is already in Sri Lanka. And the rest of those who will stay in Dhaka will also be tested. Everyone will be tested for COVID-19,” he remarked.