Tigers leave for UAE

Bangladesh national cricket team left for UAE to begin their Asia Cup 2022 campaign on Tuesday afternoon on a flight that departed at 5:30 PM.

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed and opener Anamul Haque couldn’t travel with the team on Tuesday along with a member of the team staff due to visa complications, but they are expected to take the flight to UAE today.

Huge crowds awaited the cricketers at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, and the centre of attention, Bangladesh’s newly-appointed Twenty20 International skipper Shakib Al Hasan, chose the VIP Terminal to get to his flight.

The latest inclusion to Bangladesh’s Asia Cup squad, opener Mohammad Naim, who just played in Bangladesh A’s tour of the West Indies, will be joining in directly with the squad from the Caribbeans.

Tigers will take part in their first training session on Thursday, and will train on consecutive days, August 28 and 29, before taking on Afghanistan on August 30 in their opening fixture at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Following another session on the day after, the Tigers will play their second match against Sri Lanka on August 1 at the Dubai International Stadium.

Bangladesh Cricket Board selectors initially named a 17-man squad for the Asia Cup, including the injured Nurul Hasan Sohan. But they had to make forced changes to the squad as fast bowler Hasan Mahmud got injured in the practice session on Saturday, and Nurul, who injured his index figure in the three-match series against Zimbabwe, was also sidelined. The selectors are yet to name the vice-captain of the T20I squad and three standby players, who will not travel to the UAE.

Bangladesh also brought changes to their coaching panel as Russell Domingo was relieved of his duties as the head coach of the T20 side, with Sridharan Sriram appointed as the technical consultant.

Tigers have played two practice matches amongst themselves as part of preparations for the Asia Cup at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday and Monday. The match situations emphasised on range hitting and batting at higher strike rates.

The Asia Cup starts on August 27 with Sri Lanka taking on Afghanistan. On the following day, archrivals India and Pakistan will face off at the Dubai International Stadium.