The first day of the closed-door training camp of the Bangladesh cricket team under head coach Chandika Hathurusingha was focused on adapting to match scenarios at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman, who are playing in the Indian Premier League, were two of the absentees while Shakib Al Hasan is away on a break. However, the other remaining members of the squad sweated it out in the training session.
The access to cover the training session for the media was limited to just 30 minutes. The Tigers worked on specific areas keeping in mind the upcoming ODI series against Ireland in the United Kingdom next month.
Hathurusingha and the team management opted to hold the camp in Sylhet bearing in mind the relatively bouncy tracks which are similar to what the Tigers are expected to face in Chelmsford, England.
Pacer Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, who is the only new face in the Bangladesh squad, reiterated that aspect of settling the camp in Sylhet could help the Tigers as the pitches there have a reputation of offering adequate bounce for preparation. The left-arm seamer also pointed out that there are still many areas the visitors will need to adjust in England.
“Look, as you said, the pitches in England are bouncy. So in that context, the pitches in Sylhet have a reputation [of being similar to the ones in England]. We practised today [yesterday] and there was bounce on the surface which might help us a bit to prepare for England. But it won’t help entirely since it’s not possible to have exactly the same pitches here. But so far, it went well for us,” Mrittunjoy told the media yesterday.
The 21-year-old went on to elaborate on the activities done on the first day of the training camp, revealing that the batters, in particular, were given specific tasks during the session, with an onus on the batting in the first 10 overs and at the back-end of the innings.
“Today’s [Thursday] practice session was about training within match situations; How to play in the first 10 overs and to play in the back end of the innings. The batters went according to their batting orders, and according to the plans assigned, and those who came later down the order were instructed to hit. We only tried to adjust with the match scenario today,” he said.
