The series will begin on October 24, but the Tigers will fly for Sri Lanka later this month so that they can have a longer training camp in Colombo. Before that, the Bangladesh team will also have a shorter residential camp in Dhaka, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the CEO of BCB, confirmed to media on Saturday.
The Sri Lanka tour will be marked as Bangladesh’s first international cricket event after the deadly virus hit the world, and at the same time, it’ll be Bangladesh’s first three-match Test series in six years.
“We are in regular contact with the Sri Lanka board. They are communicating with their health ministry to manage a shorter quarantine period for the touring Bangladesh team. It’s a pandemic, so we have to understand that every country is going through a changed situation which is called new normal. Like the other countries, Sri Lanka is also going through new regulations. But they are trying to bring the situation to an endurable level,” Chowdhury told the media on Saturday.
“We are doing what we need to do from our part- travel booking, practice plan and when we can start camp in Dhaka. We believe that the quarantine period will not be longer than seven days. We are preparing our team accordingly. And I think it will not cause any problem in our main series as we are going to Sri Lanka a month in advance,” he added.
There were some talks surfacing around the cricketing arena that the tour might be delayed due to the current situation as Sri Lanka is yet to finalize the quarantine period. But BCB CEO ruled out this idea.
“I don’t think we are in a situation to talk about the delay of this series. We can’t say anything before getting the official confirmation about quarantine period from Sri Lanka board. We are preparing our team and waiting for their plan. I hope we will get that within the next few days,” Nizamuddin told the media.
Meanwhile, apart from the head of physical training Nicholas Lee, all members of the coaching staff have tested negative for Covid-19, and they will be allowed to join the national team camp without a 14-day quarantine, confirmed BCB CEO.
“The health department agreed to allow them to join the national team camp without completing a 14-day quarantine period as they are free from Covid-19. But we are yet to receive an official letter allowing the coaching staff to join the camp. I hope to get the letter within the next two days,” Nizamuddin further told the media.