Cricketers leave country for Sri Lanka tour

The Bangladesh cricket team left Dhaka on Monday to play their last two matches in the ICC Test Championship. The Tigers left for Sri Lanka on a chartered flight of Bangladesh Biman Airlines at 12:30 pm.

With the preliminary squad of 21 people, a huge contingent of 41 people including coaching staff, support staff and BCB officials are going to Sri Lanka.

Former cricketer Shahriar Nafees will be seen in a new role on this tour. Sabbir Khan, the manager of the cricket management department, usually goes on different tours with the team.

This time Deputy Manager Nafees has gone as his replacement.

Khaled Mahmud Sujan will be the team leader.

Bangladesh cricketers will be in quarantine for three days after arriving in Sri Lanka on April 12 before they get opportunities to practice.

The first two-day warm-up match will be played on April 17-18.

Regarding quarantine, BCB chief executive Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said, "The plan we have is room quarantine for the first three days, then practice will continue. After that, a practice match will be arranged between our players."

The initial squad has been kept bigger to play practice matches among themselves.

The host nation Sri Lanka has said it will not field a team for the warm-up match due to the health concerns of its cricketers. They won't even give any net bowler.

The final squad will be announced after playing two warm-up matches between themselves in Sri Lanka.

The two matches between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy.

The first Test will start on April 21. The second Test will be played on April 29.

Bangladesh team is going to play the first Test match in this field. Earlier, Bangladesh played ODI and T20 in Pallekele.

Bangladesh is going to play Test in Sri Lanka after 2017. Bangladesh had a great achievement in that tour four years ago when they beat the hosts in their 100th Test under Mushfiqur Rahim.