Bangladesh prepare for transition to drop-in pitches

With an aim to adapt to the drop-in wickets, Bangladesh began their preparation with a three-hour long net session at Cantiague Park in New York on Thursday (May 30).

Drop-in wickets in New York was a major point of discussion ahead of the team's departure for the USA with the tourists not being familiar with it, unlike some of the other teams in the event. With their first warm-up game against the USA being abandoned due to bad weather in Dallas, Texas on May 28, Bangladesh will be hoping to make the most out of their practice match against India in Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on June 1.

Bangladesh play two of their group matches of the T20 World Cup in the USA - against Sri Lanka in Dallas on June 7 and against South Africa in New York on June 10 - before heading to St Vincent in West Indies for their remaining two games.

The Najmul Hossain-led side arrived at the venue nearly two hours after the scheduled time and the focus was on Shakib Al Hasan who batted for the most amount of time, in three different periods.

Following the practice session on Thursday a member of the team management told Cricbuzz that that the players enjoyed their time playing on the drop-in wickets at the Cantiague Park, located over five miles away from the main ground.

"There were no complaints from the cricketers regarding the behaviour of the drop-in wicket and everyone tried to spend as much time as possible to get adapted with its bounce and turn," said the team management member. "The drop in pitches were okay, the ball came onto the bat well.

"Some extra bounce but batters enjoyed them. These (drop-in wickets) have only been down for a short space of time so once they settle they will be very good," he said, adding that he is not sure how the wickets will behave at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh can heave a sigh of relief as Taskin Ahmed, who recently started bowling with shorter-run after recovering from back injury which forced him to be rested from competitive cricket until now, was found bowling with higher intensity. Bangladesh will have another practice session before they take on India, who arrived at the ground following the departure of the Bangladesh team.

Source: Cricbuzz