For the first time in the New Zealand’s ground Bangladesh cricketers practiced on Thursday. The Tigers practiced at the Lincoln Green in small groups of seven for the first time since landing in Christchurch on February 24. Players, who undertook three coronavirus tests in the first seven days and subsequently returned negative results in each of them, were, however, permitted to roam inside the hotel premises for 30-40 minutes everyday after spending the first three days in self-isolation.
All-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin said that fielding was given more importance in the first session as it was divided into small groups.
Soumya Sarkar, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mosaddek Hossain and Sheikh Mehedi Hasan were in a group with Saifuddin in practice on Thursday. Preparations were done in the open air on the grounds of Lincoln University. Mushfiqur Rahim was seen practicing with another group.
In New Zealand conditions, fielding, batting and bowling has always been quite challenging. Earlier, Bangladesh suffered by losing crucial matches because of the weather. Due to the strong winds, the flight of the ball is often difficult to understand in New Zealand.
After the practice session, Saifuddin said, in practice today, first we worked on our fielding -- short catch and high catch. Because there's a matter of weather and wind here and hence we practiced catching trying to adapt to the condition here. Then we did batting and bowling in short sessions. And we did a little fitness training at the end, since we haven't been able to do too much fitness in seven days. We did running according to the trainer's instructions. I will be trying to adjust to the condition with practice sessions like this for the rest of the days we have left.’
The cricketers have warmed up before the fielding practice. After light batting and bowling session on the first day, he added.
Bangladesh are yet to get a win in 26 international games in New Zealand. However, Saifuddin said that at least this time they are desperate to end the drought. The all-rounder's was particularly optimistic about the ODIs, saying, "There will be expectations because we are a very good team in the ODIs. If we can all play well then the result will be in our favour. There is also T20s. As we are yet to fill in the achievement column (in New Zealand), we will try to return to our country with some good results in this series, ' he ended.
