There is a very slim chance the Tigers’ training camp will get underway as per schedule after the stalemate regarding the resumption of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket Super League ended on Tuesday.
The cricket operations committee earlier decided to start the camp on May 20 with twenty-seven cricketers under the guidance of interim coach Shane Jurgensen but after the settlement of the Premier League scenario there is very little chance that most of the cricketers will be available as at least twenty selected players for the camp are involved with the six Super League clubs.
The Super League will start from May 31.
It was also scheduled that a five-day long camp will be held in Khulna in the first week of June where the players are supposed to play three practice matches, but it is now believed that there is no point in arranging these matches when there is a scope to play quality games in the Premier League.
“We have to rethink our planning because you know the team will leave for Zimbabwe to play a tri-nation T20 tournament on May 13, so after the end of the Premier League we will not get time to arrange any camp,” said Sabbir Khan, cricket operations committee manager.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) already confirmed the tours of Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago (under the banner of BCB XI) where the Tigers will play T20 matches as part of their preparation for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka in September. Another proposed tour to Ireland in July is now unlikely to take place as BCB high-ups no longer seem interested.
The main question surrounding the tour was whether Mushfiqur Rahim’s men will travel to Zimbabwe under the guidance of interim coach Jurgensen. The BCB is trying hard to make sure that the Tigers get a new coach before the trip as they were waiting for confirmation from Richard Pybus.
Pybus, who recently visited the country to attain first-hand knowledge about the facilities available here, is yet to intimate his decision. According to sources everything now depends on whether Pybus’s family gives their consent or not.
The BCB is very much hopeful about the appointment of Pybus and they will explore alternate options only if Pybus declines the job.
-With The Daily Star input
