Ahead of the home series against West Indies to be played from January 20, the Bangladesh team is all set to start its preparations from January 10. On the same day, the West Indies cricket team will arrive in Dhaka.

The series against the West Indies will mark Bangladesh’s return to international cricket after the Coronavirus hiatus. Their last international match was back in March last year against Zimbabwe.

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The Tigers were all set to tour Sri Lanka for a full series last October, but due to the Covid-19 restriction in the island nation, the series was postponed indefinitely. The two countries are in talks to make the series happen in March-April this year.

Both West Indies and Bangladesh have announced their squads for the forthcoming series. While a whopping 12 regular players of West Indies opted out of the series due to the Covid-19 situation, Bangladesh refused to bring back Mashrafe bin Mortaza, now an MP, to give some young players a chance.

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The series will kick off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on January 20 with the first of three ODIs. The second ODI will be played on January 22 at the same venue while the third and final ODI will take place in Chattogram on January 25.

After the three-match ODI series, the teams will lock horns in a two-match Test series. The first Test will be played in Chattogram from February 3, with the final Test taking place from February 11 in Dhaka.

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Bangladesh's preliminary squads against West Indies:

ODIs: Tamim Iqbal (captain), Momimul Haque, Taskin Ahmed, Khaled Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mustafizur Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Liton Das, Nurul Hasan, Yasir Ali, Shadman Islam, Saif Hassan, Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain.

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Tests: Momimul Haque, Taskin Ahmed, Tamim Iqbal, Khaled Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mustafizur Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Liton Das, Nurul Hasan, Yasir Ali, Shadman Islam, Saif Hassan, Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain.