Bangladesh’s Sri Lanka tour confirmed; doubts remain over Shakib Al Hasan’s participation

After the West Indies, England and Pakistan, it’s the turn for Bangladesh to return to competitive cricket. The Tigers’ tour of Sri Lanka has been confirmed amidst the massive coronavirus pandemic. The tour is set to get underway on October 24, and the teams will be taking part in three Tests along with as many T20Is, though the full itinerary is yet to be confirmed.

The tour was earlier scheduled to be played in July, but it had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 scenario. The upcoming tour was zeroed in on after a meeting between High Performance (HP) and the Cricket Operations Committee (COC).

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed the tour through a press release. Akram Khan, the COC chairman, talked about the action plans going into the tour.

Bangladesh cricketers likely to leave for Sri Lanka on September 23

“We discussed quite a few matters including conducting Covid-19 tests before the start of camp. We have made some good plans which will be communicated later. There was also the matter of how long we can prepare here before leaving for Sri Lanka and most probably we will train for 10-12 days from mid-September before departure,” the COC chairman said in a media release.

“The HP team is also going with us and will train with the national side before the national team’s series on October 24.” The Bangladesh cricketers will be accompanied by the HP team and they are likely to leave for Sri Lanka around September 23.

In the meantime, there’s still no surety over whether or not Shakib Al Hasan will be making his comeback with the tour. The Magura-born’s ban ends on October 29, 2020.

“We discussed about Shakib but there is much of discussion left. We also discussed bringing the coach and support staff here and hopefully we will be able to do that at the beginning of September,” Akram stated.

“We need to be clear about what the ICC guidelines say regarding his ban before we can move forward. We know that he can’t practice with the team before his ban comes to an end,” he added.

It was recently learned that Shakib would be beginning to practice at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP) to get himself match-fit. In the coronavirus pandemic, he spent time in the US along with wife Umme Ahmed Shishir and daughters Alaina and Errum.