DHAKA, Aug 10, 2020 (BSS)—The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will conduct a COVID-19 test for every player who will be called up for the conditioning camp of the upcoming Sri Lanka tour.
The board however fixed the date of the conditioning camp once the itinerary of the tour for Sri Lanka is finalized, said BCB CEO Nizam uddin Chowdhury.
“We are yet to fix the date of the conditioning camp. It will be fixed when we finalize the itinerary of the tour of Sri Lanka,” Chowdhury said here today, adding that Bangladeshi is likely to leave the country for Sri Lanka in the last week of September. And the three-match Test series and proposed three-match T20 series will be held in October-November.
“COVID-19 test is mandatory for every player. However we’ll only take them to the isolation and conduct the test when the date of the conditioning camp is fixed. After the COVID-19 test, they will get permission to enter into the residential camp.”
The BCB is monitoring the players’ health condition every now and then through COVID-19 wellbeing app, said the CEO.
“We have introduced an app named COVID-19 wellbeing through which our medical department is constantly in touch with the players. The app is useful to identify any player’s problem and sickness. So as per the app, everything is going fine so far.”
The BCB CEO said there was a proposal to add a three-match T20 series with the existing three-match Test series in Sri Lanka tour but it is yet to be finalized.
“There was a proposal of playing a three-match T20 series with the Test series. We have been discussing this internally with the Sri Lankan board. Once this thing is finalized, the itinerary of the tour will be fixed.”
The three-match Test series, originally scheduled to be held in July-August, was mutually postponed by BCB and Sri Lanka Cricket in June even though the Island nation was eager to make the tour happen, considering that Sri Lanka is one of the countries to successfully control COVID-19, a deadly virus that left the world stranded.
Bangladeshi players lack of preparedness however was the main reason as the coronavirus forced the cricketers to stay at home.
The window later opened after two major multi-team events –Asia Cup and the ICC Twenty20 World Cup got postponed for the COVID-19 crisis.
That also left a void in Bangladesh’s international calendar, forcing the BCB to facilitate the return of the Tigers in the international arena through the Sri Lanka tour.