Test squad to be announced after reaching Sri Lanka

Bangladesh are set to tour Sri Lanka for their three-match Test series in late September. Despite the first Test kicking off on October 24, the Tigers will reach Sri Lanka a month prior to that, considering the mandatory quarantine and training period. And the primary team consisting 20-22 members for the tour will be announced prior to that.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Minhazul Abedin has informed that the whole primary team will fly to Sri Lanka and the High Performance (HP) team will be along the national side.  

"We haven't played in a long time, neither did the players go through training. But still, we are prioritising experience. We have quite a few practice matches in Sri Lanka, we will announce the main squad there," Minhazul Abedin said on Thursday.  

BCB will assess the players' fitness on both physical and psychological front before announcing the squad. Which means, cricketers will go through a test to play the series. 

Minhazul said, "We will fly to Sri Lanka with the primary squad. The training sessions at Sri Lanka are very important because of the five-month break. We will assess how players are recovering, how they are preparing themselves psychologically to play international cricket. We will be taking 20-22 players at first. We will prepare the squad within the first week of September and then announce the main squad in Sri Lanka."

Before that, the cricketers will be tested for Covid-19 in various steps. BCB is planning to test all 38 players from their pool. 

He added, "The 24-man HP squad will be flying to Sri Lanka too. We are creating the balance in that manner, we will use them when we need. The players will be tested for Covid-19 thrice in Bangladesh before another test after reaching Sri Lanka. Actually, we can not find out the results without testing them twice."