Minhazul Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar, two selectors of the Bangladesh national cricket team, are busy and conducting offices even during the lockdown. On the first day of the lockdown on Monday, they spent several hours at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. Two selectors were also present at the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) office on Tuesday morning.
Amidst lockdown, all the matches are called off. The national team also has o activities. So, what is the reason for going to the BCB office in the morning for two days in a row during the lockdown? Chief selector Minhazul Abedin Nannu’s said that they are busy to finalise the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka.
On Tuesday morning, Nannu on a phone conversation told that the work of sorting out the roster for the Sri Lanka series was nearing completion. They will either submit the team to the board on Tuesday and if they do so then they will announce the squad on Wednesday.
There are doubts whether a net bowler will be available in practice in Sri Lanka and whether local cricketers will be available to play practice matches. So, a few days ago, the chief selector told that the team will be comprised of 18 to 20 people. However, on Tuesday he has moved away from that stance. Nannu said, we are thinking of sending a team comprised of 16-17 people.
The Bangladesh team has recently returned to the country after a three-match ODI and T20 series in New Zealand. About half of the cricketers in that team were present in the last Test team against the West Indies. Besides, there were 8-9 more players from that series, who remained in the country and did not take part in the New Zealand tour. Now it remains to be seen whether there will be major changes or not from Test squad of the West Indies series.
Meanwhile, two rounds of the National Cricket League (NCL) have been conducted. Will anyone be considered for doing well there? Cricket analysts are raising such questions. The chief selector did not say a word about it. However, he explained that they will not go for a big experiment with the team now. The idea of sorting out the team with established and tested performers is going on, which gives us a hint that there might not be any major changes from the West Indies series to the test squad, that will travel to the island nation.
