BCB seeks help from two Covid-19 specialists
One of them is a professor from the University of Dhaka whereas the other is working at the University of Sheffield. BCB are not disclosing their names on request.
Bangladesh national team is set to return to cricket with their tour to Sri Lanka. The three-match Test series will start on October 24 but the Tigers will travel to Sri Lanka almost a month prior to that. After their time in quarantine, the players will train for a couple of weeks before the series starts.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are working on the health measures regarding the tour. They have prepared a protocol to ensure the safety of the cricketers during their flight, transportation and residence. For that, BCB has seeked help from two Covid-19 specialists. This was confirmed to The Business Standard (TBS) by BCB's chief physician Dr Debashish Chowdhury.
"We are seeking help from two Covid-19 specialists to ensure the cricketers' safety. We have planned a protocol with the help of the specialists. How we will board our flight, how we will stay at the hotel and how we will travel there - we are taking their help to create the protocol," Dr Debashish told TBS.
One of them is a professor from the University of Dhaka whereas the other is working at the University of Sheffield. BCB are not disclosing their names on request from them.
"We are not disclosing their names on request. They don't want their name known. Both of them are in many of Bangladesh government's technical committees. They are mainly researchers," Dr Debashish informed.
BCB have been taking the specialists' advice for quite some time now and will continue to do so till the Sri Lanka tour. They have already conducted an online session with some cricketers from the national and High performance (HP) setup. Both of them will come to Mirpur Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium for an inspection tomorrow, September 6.
Dr Debashish said, "We had our first meeting with them almost a week ago. They did a virtual meeting with some players on Zoom. We have been contacting them for quite some time now. For now, we will communicate with them until the Sri Lanka series ends. Both of them will be at Mirpur tomorrow."
BCB will announce a 22-man squad for the Sri Lanka tour around September 10-15. The cricketers will be tested for Covid-19 on September 18. Those testing negative will be moved to a hotel on September 20.
Team practice will begin on September 21. After a few training sessions at the Mirpur stadium, the national and HP team will fly to Sri Lanka on September 26. The first two Tests will be played at Kandy before the third Test at Colombo. Before the series, the national team will play a few practice matches against the HP team.
