Emboldened by their experience of organising two tournaments, keeping a huge number of players and stakeholders in bio-bubble, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) remains upbeat to successfully host the West Indies in next January-February.
With the series against the Caribbean side, which is set to arrive in Dhaka on January 10, Bangladesh will resume its International cricket. The Tigers’ last International series was a home series against Zimbabwe in March before the Covid-19 pandemic induced a long break.
As the global pandemic forced the world to adjust with new normal, the cricket around the world is being held, keeping the players, officials and other stakeholders in a bio-secure bubble.
Bangladesh gained the experience of how bio-bubble works by organising BCB President’s Cup and Bangabandhu T20 Cup. While the BCB President’s Cup was a one-day format tournament, with three teams, the Bangabandhu T20 Cup was a five-team T20 format cricket.
Those two tournaments were huge successes, which eventually gave BCB confidence that they would be able to organize the series against West Indies in a bio-secure environment.
“You have already seen that we have successfully organized two tournaments. First there was the three-team competition (BCB President’s Cup), then the five-team Bangabandhu T20 Cup. From there we have formed an expert group. We know in general which areas need to be tightened and which areas need to be monitored when we would keep the players and officials in bio-bubble,” BCB CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury told the reporters on Monday.
“We have already held a coordination meeting considering all factors. We are all quite confident we would be able to organize the West Indies series successfully. Moreover we have to keep just two teams and their officials in the bio-bubble for this series but during those two tournament, we kept three and five teams and their officials in bio-bubble. So this International series will be easier for us.”
The Caribbean side will arrive in Dhaka on January 10 after which they will quarantine for seven days. In these seven days, they will undergo Covid-19 test twice. Then they will get permission for outdoor training.
They will play a one-day warm-up game on January 18 at BKSP with which they will start the series officially.
The three-match ODI series is scheduled for January 22, 24 and 25. Then they will play a two-match Test series for which the West Indies will prepare with a four-day warm-up game in February.
The BCB CEO said that the board has already completed quarantine preparations for the visitors.
“Initially we have a seven-day quarantine plan for them. The first three days they will be at the hotel. Later, if their Covid-19 results are negative, they can practice amongst them. After seven days, they will get the opportunity to start the practice in full swing,” he informed.
