After a three-day in-room quarantine upon their arrival in Bangladesh, the West Indies started practice ahead of the three-match ODI and two-match Test series against the hosts.
The visitors were seen giving more importance to spin bowling on their first practice session.
They underwent two Covid-19 tests after coming to Bangladesh. In both tests, all the members of the touring side got negative results and subsequently, were allowed to start intra-squad training.
They will have to wait three more days before getting help from the local net bowlers. During the next three days, they are scheduled to hold intra-squad training sessions. Following this period, they will play a warm-up game at BKSP in Savar on January 18.
On the first day of practice, all the spinners of the Caribbean side looked very curious about the wicket. They joined the practice in two groups. Rahkeem Cornwall, Jomel Warrican and uncapped Kavem Hodge were the spinners who joined the practice in the first group. They bowled at the centre wicket of the national academy ground for more than an hour.
Hayden Walsh will be a key player for the West Indies in their spin department in ODIs. The leg-spinner played 10 ODIs till the date and bagged 12 wickets. They have uncapped Akeal Hosein in their armoury, who bagged 63, 37 and 23 wickets in 23, 28 and 40 Frist-class, List-A and T20s matches respectively.
The ODI series will begin on January 20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The second match will also take the place at the same venue on January 22. The third ODI will be played in Chattogram on January 25 at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Jason Mohammed, the stand-in captain of West Indies ODI side, said they will have to play a good brand of cricket in all three departments.
“They (Bangladesh) are a good team, and they play really well in white-ball cricket. So, we’ve to play consistently well against them, we’ve to give our hundred per cent in all three departments of the game,” Jason told the media on Thursday.
Jason said it was a relief for them to come out from in-room quarantine. “It was really a tough time to remain stuck in the hotel room for three days. It’s good to come out and get some fresh air,” he said.
After the ODI series, both the teams will lock horns in a two-match Test series. While the first Test will take place in Chattogram from February 3, the second Test and the final match of the series will be played in Dhaka from February 11.
