The India national cricket team arrived in Dhaka on Thursday evening. The tourists will play a three-match ODI and two-match Test series against the hosts Bangladesh. Read more:  India to arrive in Dhaka Thursday for ODI, Test series It will be the first series of these two teams in Bangladesh in seven years. India last toured Bangladesh for an ODI and Test series back in 2015 when Bangladesh beat them 2-1 in the ODI series. Bangladesh took on India in 36 ODIs so far, and they won five, with one match ending with no result.  Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian team in this series, while Lokesh Rahul will play the role of his deputy. The first ODI of the series will take place in Dhaka on December 4, while the second will be played at the same venue on December 7. The third and last ODI will be played in Chattogram on December 10.  After the ODI series, both the teams will lock horns in a two-match Test series. The first Test is scheduled to be played in Chattogram from December 14, while the second and last Test will take place in Dhaka from December 22.  Read more: Unofficial Test: India A in the driving seat against Bangladesh A India's squad for Bangladesh ODIs: Rohit Sharma (C), KL  Rahul (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen

India is set to arrive in Dhaka Thursday evening to play a three-match ODI and two-match Test series against hosts Bangladesh. It will be the first ODI series between these teams in Bangladesh in seven years. India last toured Bangladesh for an ODI series in 2015 when the hosts beat them 2-1. Read more: Unofficial Test: India A in the driving seat against Bangladesh A Bangladesh took on India in 36 ODIs; they won five and one was a no result. Rohit Sharma will lead Team India in the series and Lokesh Rahul will play the role of his deputy. The first ODI of the series will take place in Dhaka on December 4 and the second at the same venue on December 7. The third and last ODI will be played in Chattogram on December 10. After the ODI series, both the teams will lock horns in a two-match Test series. The first Test is scheduled to be played in Chattogram from December 14 and the second and last one in Dhaka from December 22. Read more: Unofficial Test: Fragile Bangladesh A on the back foot against India A India squad for ODIs Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (VC), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Chahar, and Kuldeep Sen

England's cricket team arrived in Islamabad early Sunday to play its first test series in Pakistan since 2005. Led by Ben Stokes, England will kick off the tour in Rawalpindi -- an adjacent city to Islamabad -- which hosts the first test from next Thursday. The second test will be played at Multan from Dec. 9-13 before England round off the tour with the final test at Karachi from Dec. 17-21. England had played a seven-match T20 series in Pakistan prior to the T20 World Cup in Australia where it went on to beat Pakistan in the final. England was due to tour Pakistan last year before the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates but abandoned the tour due to security concerns after New Zealand had aborted its tour to Pakistan just minutes before the toss in the first ODI at Rawalpindi. There were some concerns over England’s test tour to Pakistan after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was wounded in Wazirabad, a district in eastern Punjab province, during his protest against the sitting government. “It’s been a long time since England have played test cricket in Pakistan,” Stokes had said in Abu Dhabi last Friday where the team trained for a week before flying out to Pakistan. Read more: England to play 3 Test matches in Pakistan in December “With what happened with Imran Khan recently, there was a little bit of concern, but we have Reg Dickason, who has been the security man for many years with England, and we left it in his capable hands.” Last Monday Khan had met with the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja and British High Commissioner in Lahore and assured the officials that his protest against the government will not disturb England cricket team’s tour to Pakistan. Pakistan had hosted England twice in a test series at UAE over the last 17 years with foreign teams reluctant to travel to Pakistan after the Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked in Lahore in 2009. However, since 2015 Pakistan has started regaining the confidence of foreign countries that it could organize international games at home and have hosted almost all the major cricketing nations, including South Africa and Australia. The three-test series will be part of World Test Championship where Pakistan is sitting in fifth place while England is seventh. Pakistan needs to win the three-test series to keep its hopes alive for next year’s final. Read more: England crush Pakistan in T20 decider to win series 4-3 Pakistan will be without its key fast bowler Shaheen Afridi, who has been ruled out of the series due to knee injury. The home team has also dropped middle-order batter Fawad Alam and ace leg-spinner Yasir Shah due to poor form. Uncapped fast bowlers Haris Rauf and Mohammad Ali have been called up to the squad along with mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed, who is expected to make his debut during the series. England also has injury concerns ahead of the first test with fast bowler Mark Wood in doubt due to a hip injury. Stuart Broad has been given paternity leave from the tour as England will be banking on its experienced fast bowler James Anderson to trouble Pakistan batters. England has included 18-year-old Leicestershire allrounder Rehan Ahmed in the squad after originally drafting him as a net bowler for the tour. Squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Harry Brook, Joe Root, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett, Liam Livingstone, Ben Foakes, Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, James Anderson, Jamie Overton, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Rehan Ahmed.

South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first in the second of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at Port Elizabeth on Friday. Bangladesh has, however, made two changes in the playing XI -- Tamim Iqbal has replaced Shadman Islam, and Taijul Islam is in the team in place of Taskin Ahmed, who has been ruled out due to a hand injury. With the return of Tamim, Bangladesh can hope for a strong top-order batting display. Bangladesh lost the first Test in Durban by a big margin of 220 runs after a batting collapse in the second innings. Also Read: SA vs BAN 2022: Bangladesh Aspire to Level the Test Series with Fresh Strategy Mahmudul Hasan Joy was the best performer for Bangladesh in the first Test. The young batter hit a ton in Durban, which was the maiden Test century by any Bangladeshi batter in South Africa. While Bangladesh have made two changes, the hosts are playing with an unchanged XI. Bangladesh (Playing XI): Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das (w), Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Also Read: Pat Cummins Makes Headlines with Fastest IPL Fifty South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar (c), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne (w), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Lizaad Williams, Duanne Olivier

With the job half done, Bangladesh are all set to take on New Zealand from Sunday in the second Test of the series aiming to finish the job — to win their first-ever Test series against the Blackcaps. The Tigers, who had no win in New Zealand despite playing a total of 32 matches across all the formats, won the first Test of the series in Tauranga by eight wickets. Along with becoming their first-ever win in New Zealand, this win ended the drought of Bangladesh of not winning a Test against any of the top-five Test teams away from home. Experts said it was one of the best things that Bangladesh have done in their cricketing history, though Masrhafe Bin Mortaza, the former captain of the Tigers is not a big fan of this idea. He rather said ‘not one of the best’, it actually is ‘the best-ever win’ of Bangladesh in cricket regardless of the formats. Read: Bangladesh National Men's Cricket Team Schedules for 2022 Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan echoed Mashrafe. To him, this win proved those who used to think that Bangladesh is unable to do big things sans the service of the big players wrong. Shakib pointed to the absence of himself and Tamim Iqbal in this series. While Tamim was left out due to an injury, Shakib skipped it citing family reasons. “Bangladesh’s media fraternity used to say that the Bangladesh team is all about some four-five players, but it is proved wrong now. The young players are also capable of doing big things if they are given adequate chances,” Shakib said recently during a media interaction in Dhaka. Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo believes the Tigers are pumped-up thanks to the win in the first match, and they are eager to create a new chapter of their history winning the second Test in a tougher condition in Christchurch which will surely offer a wicket with grass on it. Given the current stats of Bangladesh in the longer format of the sport, one might say it’s a daydream of the Tigers to aim for a series win against New Zealand— the current champions of the ICC World Test Championship. But a win with the contribution from most players of the XI changed the atmosphere of the Bangladesh team.

After an incredible day of a Test match with the help of Ebadot Hossain’s late strike, Bangladesh are hoping for something big in the ongoing Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui. At the end of day four, New Zealand are leading only by 17 runs with five wickets in hand. If Bangladesh can produce another morning session as they did on day two— scalping five New Zealand wickets inside 70 runs— the visitors can hope big from this match, probably, the biggest Test win ever for them. Ebadot, who averaged more than 80 among the bowlers who scalped at least 10 wickets in Tests, emerged largely on the fourth day afternoon taking three wickets in two consecutive overs and bringing New Zealand down to 136 from two to 136 for five, which eventually kept Bangladesh on the race of winning this match. Bangladesh sent back Tom Latham early in the second innings as well, when Taskin Ahmed bowled a delivery outside off stumps, and Latham went to drive but only managed an inside edge which shattered his stumps. Devon Conway fell prey as Ebadto’s first wicket when New Zealand were at 63. Also read: Bangladesh hold firm after imperious batting display After that, it did seem like a boring draw was coming up. Will Young and Ross Taylor added 73 off 175 balls at the third wicket stand. But when Ebadot managed to trick Young for 69, it seemed the floodgate had opened as the pacer ran a riot after that taking the wickets of Nicholls and Blundell too. Bangladesh could have taken Taylor too if they had not missed two easy chances— a catch by Shadman Islam and an easy-looking run-out. New Zealand ended day four at 147 for five in 63 overs, with Ross Taylor and Rachin Ravindra for 37 and six respectively. For Bangladesh, Ebadot bagged four wickets conceding 39 runs— his best bowling in Tests so far. And the other wicket was taken by Taskin. Earlier, Bangladesh ended up on 458 in their first innings in 176.2 overs— the most overs played by any team in New Zealand after Pakistan’s 193.2 in 2009. In reply to New Zealand’s first innings total of 328, Bangladesh secured a 130-run lead. In the first innings, Conway hit a ton for the hosts. And for Bangladesh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mominul Haque and Liton Das hit a fifty each while Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 47 for Bangladesh in Bangladesh’s first innings. Also read: Mahmudul uncertain for rest of New Zealand series Meanwhile, Mahmudul is uncertain for the remainder of this series as he suffered a blow on his right hand that required three stitches. Bangladesh’s physio Bayejidul Islam said that the batter will undergo a seven to 10-day observation now, which eventually, made his chance to take any further part in this series lean.

Bangladesh’s 21-year-old top-order batter Mahmudul Hasan Joy, after his maiden Test fifty against New Zealand, said that he focused on the deliveries instead of worrying about the bowlers. At the end of day three, Bangladesh are leading by 73 runs with four wickets in hand. In reply to New Zealand’s first innings total of 328, Bangladesh scored 401 for six at stumps. It was only the second Test of Mahmudul (first in New Zealand) where he smashed 78 off 228 balls. Along the way he became the first Bangladeshi opener to face 200 or more deliveries in New Zealand. Also read: Bangladesh hold firm after imperious batting display Before this match, Mahmudul got his Test cap against Pakistan when he got a torrid initiation to Tests-- a duck and six in his first two innings. “They have the best pace-bowling unit in the world,” he said about the pace-bowling attack of the reigning Test champions. “I just wanted to play my regular game. I did not think much over that. My focus was to play the delivers not the names of their bowlers.” Along with Mahmudul, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque and Liton Das have also hit a fifty. Mominul and Liton had passed the 80-run mark too but fell short of a few runs from their first Test century in New Zealand. “My plan was to face as many balls as possible, and the runs will come along the way. All of my partners in the middle have said this. It was the reason behind my calmness on the wicket. I must admit that the preparation ahead of the series has helped me a lot,” he added. Mahmudul and Shadman Islam put up a 43-run opening stand— highest in recent times. In the absence of the veteran batter Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh’s top-order has been struggling for a long time. Also read: Bangladesh takes lead after Mominul, Liton heroics “Shadman and I wanted to make the ball old,” Mahmudul said while talking about playing the new ball. “If I would have thought more, there was a big chance of losing the wicket. So we kept thinking ball by ball, and it eventually resulted in a good way.”

After waiting for about one and a half weeks, the Bangladesh team is finally out for preparation ahead of the two-match Test series against New Zealand starting from January 1.  In the latest Covid-19 Test, all the members of the Bangladesh team returned negative which allowed them to come out from the quarantine and start preparation ahead of the series.  Read:New Zealand vs Bangladesh: Head-to-Head Record, Stats in Test Cricket This series is part of the ICC World Test Championship. Bangladesh played their first series of this event against Pakistan at home before flying for New Zealand. Bangladesh lost both the matches they played against Pakistan at home.   Bangladesh team left Dhaka on December 9 for New Zealand, and since then, they had been maintaining a strict quarantine. In the first Covid-19 test after arriving there, all the players and support staff returned negative. But in the second test, Bangladesh’s spin bowling coach Rangana Herath returned positive which prevented the Tigers to take the field after completing three days of in-room quarantine.   “It’s Great to be out,” Russell Domingo, Bangladesh’s head coach, said. “Eleven days in our rooms been pretty challenging for the boys after a long year. So, boys are happy to be out in bright sunshine and blue sky.”  Bangladesh team will continue to be practising for two days to get themselves accustomed to batting and bowling once again, and by the time they will get to Tauranga for a six-day preparation camp before the first Test of the series. The strict quarantine measures had cast doubts over the fate of this series. Had not everybody of the Bangladesh team returned negative in the last Covid-19 test, the period of quarantine might have been extended more which could force both the boards to reschedule the series in a later date.  After the New Zealand series, Bangladesh players will need to maintain another quarantine period when they will play the new season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) which is yet to be scheduled. And after that, Afghanistan will visit Bangladesh, and the players will have to maintain another tight bio-secured environment.   Bangladesh have been suffering in the field for a while now. They won two T20I series against Australia and New Zealand ahead of the T20 World Cup. But in the World Cup, they failed in every way—which was started with the defeat against Scotland.   Read: Akram Khan set to resign from his BCB post, reveals family After the shocking defeat in the first match, Bangladesh won against Oman and Papua New Guinea and qualified to the next phase of the event which was full of disappointment for the Tigers where they failed to win any match.   After the World Cup, Bangladesh lost two consecutive Tests against Pakistan. Now, they are taking the challenge of New Zealand at their home ground. Before this series, Bangladesh played 15 Tests against New Zealand and failed to win any of them.  In this tough series, Bangladesh are set to miss the service of Shakib Al Hasan who is currently on leave due to family commitments. The allrounder has great records against the Blackcaps. Along with him, Bangladesh’s most successful opener, Tamim Iqbal, is also out of this series. The opener is currently going through a rehabilitation program to come out from injuries that prevented him to take part in the Pakistan series.

The members of the Bangladesh cricket team who are travelling to New Zealand for a two-match Test series have given their samples on Sunday for a Covid-19 test. A negative result of this test will allow them to start practising in the outdoor field— the opportunity they are yet to get in New Zealand on this tour. After arriving in New Zealand early this month, the Tigers underwent two Covid-19 tests, and all the players had returned negative. Bangladesh team left home on December 9 for New Zealand, and they were supposed to maintain a three-day in-room quarantine in a hotel, and start practising outdoor after that. But the period has been extended twice after Bangladesh’s spin bowling coach Rangana Herath tested positive for Covid-19. Also read: Strict quarantine puts Bangladesh’s New Zealand tour in jeopardy “We have given our specimen today, and we hope that we all will return negative and start practising together at the field,” Shoriful Islam, the left-arm seamer of the Bangladesh team, told in a video message from New Zealand. “We are excited to start practising outside the hotel. It’s been tough for us to stay at the hotel for days. We only get a few minutes to go out of the room and talk to each other maintaining social distance,” Shorifjul, who is touring New Zealand to play Tests for the first time in his career, added. Most of the players of the Bangladesh test team are going through the tough quarantine for weeks. Many of them asked the board to skip the New Zealand series and return home due to bubble fatigue. But the board did not allow them as the New Zealand series is part of the World Test Championship. “Many of the players wanted to return home skipping the tour,” Nazmul Hasan, the BCB president recently told the media. “But the New Zealand series is very important for us. We have to continue it unless the quarantine period is extended further. Let’s wait for the result of the next Covid-19 test.” Before the New Zealand series, Bangladesh took on Pakistan in a two-match Test series at home which was Bangladesh’s maiden series in the new cycle of the World Test Championship. The players had to maintain a strict quarantine during that series as well, and before that, the players were in the bio-bubble of the T20 World Cup after maintaining the same against Australia and New Zealand at home. After the New Zealand series, the players of Bangladesh will have to participate in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League which will also require maintaining a bio-secure bubble— a tough journey for the cricketers during the pandemic. Also read: Bangladesh spin-bowling coach tests positive for COVID in New Zealand The first Test of the New Zealand series is scheduled to take place on January 1 while the second Test will be played from January 9. Bangladesh failed to win any Test in the last cycle of the World Test Championship. They are eager to make a change in the new cycle of the event, though they failed to register a good start against Pakistan. The Tigers will miss the service of Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal on this tour. While Shakib was granted leave by the BCB after he asked for the same due to family reasons, Tamim has been suffering from injuries for a while.

Bangladesh national cricket team reached New Zealand on Friday and started a seven-day in-room quarantine ahead of the two-match Test series against the hosts.  They left Dhaka on Wednesday night after ending the second Test of the two-match series against Pakistan at home.  Read:Anamul wishes a national comeback relying on performance “We have reached New Zealand safely, and we started quarantine,” Taskin Ahmed, the right-arm pacer told in a video message. “It’s always tough to stay stuck in the hotel room. But we can do anything for the team and the country.” With the home series against Pakistan, Bangladesh started the second cycle of the ICC World Test Championship. They, however, failed to register a good start as they heavily lost both the matches.  But the Tigers hope that they can do well in New Zealand, though, the real expectation is low because of their history in New Zealand where they never won against the hosts.  The first Test of the series will kick off on January 1, and the second will start on January 9.  In the touring party, Bangladesh have 18 players. Shakib Al Hasan was named in the team initially, but he withdrew due to a family reason. To replace him, Bangladesh included Fazle Mahmud Rabbi.  Read:Tigers set to leave for New Zealand tonight He scored the most runs in the recently concluded National Cricket League— the biggest First-class domestic cricket event in the country.  Bangladesh also included Yasir Ali and Mahmudul Hasan Joy who got their maiden Test cap in the last series at home against Pakistan. While Yasir got his cap in his hometown Chattogram, Mahmudul got his Test cap in Dhaka.  In the previous cycle of the ICC World Test Championship, Bangladesh played seven Tests but failed to win any of them.