Khaled Mahmud, the chairman of game development department of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), said on Wednesday the board planned to start preparing for the next U-19 World Cup which is scheduled to be played in 2022 in West Indies. 

“We have been thinking about the next of the U-19 World Cup. We are just 16 months away from this event. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have lost a few months. So we have to plan accordingly. Coronavirus situation is still not under our control. It’s tough for us to arrange a big camp in this situation. If the situation gets better after Eid, and we secure board’s clearance and government’s green signal, we may start the camp after Eid,” Mahmud told media after a meeting of BCB game development department. 

“We have also talked about the team who won the last U-19 World Cup in South Africa. We have a big plan to help them go to the next level. And at the same time, we are planning to host a longer version cricket event for the zonal champions of school cricket,” he added.

There is no Bangladesh U-19 team currently. The selectors have to form one from a youth cricket tournament, which is not possible due to the coronavirus situation. So the board has decided to arrange a camp and select a team comprising promising cricketers. 

“We can’t reveal an exact time when we can start the camp. We are trying to secure the service of Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan (BKSP) to host the camp in Agust only if the situation allows. We have to lock the whole area to host a bio-secure camp. Let’s see what we can come up with after Eid,” Mahmud said.  

All the cricketing activities are on hold in Bangladesh from mid-March due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. 

However, from early next week, cricketers might be able to start fitness training at Sher-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. As the chief physician of BCB Debashis Chowdhury told the media that the board prepared Sher-e-Bangla for individual fitness training. 

“We are trying to figure out how many cricketers are joining in this personal training programme. It will be easy to plan the schedule. For now, cricketers can work on their fitness only, and we have prepared everything needed for that,” Chowdhury told the media on Tuesday.