Bangladesh national cricket team head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe urged his charges to sacrifice 75 meals before the World Cup in order to keep them fit.
Hathurusinghe made the request while speaking to the players at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday as the members of the preliminary squad reported to the coach ahead of forthcoming home series against Zimbabwe.
Though the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a 32-member preliminary squad for the Zimbabwe series, Hathurusinghe insisted that the Tigers must start their ground work for the World Cup from now.
The World Cup is scheduled to be played in Australia and New Zealand in February-March and Hathurusinghe said the Tigers have not a single day to waste before the start of the tournament.
‘The World Cup is just around 90 days away and we need to focus on our food habit in order to remain fit,’ Hathurusinghe told the players. ‘You guys sacrifice 75 meals of rich food for me. The rest will take care of itself.’
Hathurusinghe was putting some emphasis on players’ food habit for quite some time and hoped that the just concluded Asian Games would come as an eye opener.
He wanted to show the players the food of some renowned athletes, who shared the Games village with Bangladeshi cricketers in Incheon, South Korea.
All 32 players, including Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who missed the Asian Games for his wedding ceremony, attended the briefing of Hathurusinghe at the National Academy Building.
Tigers first day of reporting also included anthropometric skin-fold test and level-1 strength test.
It was learnt that ace all-rounder Sakib al Hasan, who spent most of his time off the field for the last four months due to suspension, was among the players who appeared fitter.
Opener Tamim Iqbal also fared well in the fitness test compared to his earlier results.
The fitness drills are expected to be completed today with the vertical jump, drop jump and 30-metre sprint and the beep Test.
Hathurusinghe asked the cricketers that they should remain alert about their fitness once they are away in the domestic league duty and warned a slightest negligence could make them pay dearly.
-With New Age input
