Bangladesh national cricket team departed for the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. Mominul Haque's team left Dhaka at 12:40 pm on Monday.
Bangladesh set to tour outside the country for the second time during the Corona pandemic. Earlier, the Tigers toured New Zealand to play three ODIs and T20s.
Bangladesh will be in quarantine for 3 days after reaching Sri Lanka. Then the cricketers will get a chance to practice. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced a 21-member squad as SLC refused to provide net bowler for practice.
All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan will not be available in this series as he is playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has taken a leave of absence from the tour of Sri Lanka to prepare for the T20 World Cup.
Apart from Shakib, Mustafizur Rahman will not be seen in Sri Lanka. The left-arm pacer will play for Rajasthan Royals in this year's IPL.
The Tigers will play a two-day warm-up match on April 17 and 18 at the end of the quarantine in Sri Lanka. The first test will start on April 21, the second will be on April 29. Both matches will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
The series against Sri Lanka was originally scheduled for July last year but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Another attempt was made to play the series in October-November but it did not materialize as Bangladesh were not ready to comply with 14-day quarantine in Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh can take few positives from their previous outings in the island nation. A historic win in Bangladesh's 100th Test against the hosts in 2017 in Colombo is also the only time when the visitors had managed to beat their Sri Lankan counterpart in 12 games.
Bangladesh had their only net session ahead of the Test series at home on Sunday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium where newly appointed team director Khaled Mahmud was seen spending time talking with head coach Russell Domingo and others. Mahmud is also responsible for creating a good dressing room environment especially with several rumours floating around.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Friday announced a 21-member preliminary squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka that includes three uncapped pacers Mukidul Islam, Shahidul Islam and Shoriful Islam. Meanwhile, Nurul Hasan, Shuvagoto Hom and Khaled Ahmed return to the Bangladesh squad.
