File image of Bangladesh Test cricket team.© AFP
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Sunday announced that the national side will play seven red-ball games to prepare for a ‘gruelling Test schedule’ and to shift focus from T20Is to the World Test Championship (WTC), as per ESPNcricinfo. Bangladesh will play Test series against South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and India in their 2023-25 WTC cycle. The Test players will feature in the three four-day games in Chattogram next month while the home contests will be followed by two four-day matches against Pakistan A in Darwin from July 19 to 29. The Bangladesh A team will travel to Pakistan to play two four-day matches in August. In addition, New Zealand A plans to visit Bangladesh in August or September.
Since May, Bangladesh players have attended training camps in Chattogram and Sylhet. Jalal Yunus, BCB’s cricket operations chairman, stated that the Test players are “progressing well” at the camps and that the four-day games against tough opponents will benefit them in the WTC matches.
“We can give them the best preparation ahead of the gruelling Test schedule in the coming months. The rest is up to the players. I have been following the Bangladesh Tigers camp, which is going well,” Jalal Yunus said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
The Bangladesh senior men’s squad is expected to travel to Pakistan on August 17 for two Tests, the locations and dates of which have yet to be announced. After Pakistan, they will play two Tests against India in Chennai and Kanpur, followed by three Twenty20 Internationals.
As per ESPNcricinfo, Bangladesh might tour India twice in three months if the BCB agrees to the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s amended schedule of two white-ball matches in late July. The ACB has proposed playing three ODIs and three T20Is at Greater Noida as part of their new itinerary.
The tour was originally postponed in March bearing in mind Bangladesh’s workload in 2024, but now that the Champions Trophy is now on their calendar, the BCB is considering this tour because they only have three ODIs scheduled.
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