Although the official training camp has started, not all the players in the Champions Trophy squad joined during the first two days.
After leaving the dressing room, Taskin Ahmed engaged in some playful antics with Nahid Rana. Zakir Ali and Mustafizur Rahman joined in the fun as well. Later, a 20-minute warm-up session was conducted under the supervision of strength and conditioning coach Nathan Kelly, while the rest of the coaching staff discussed things among themselves. Afterward, everyone headed towards the indoor facilities.
And that was it—media access for covering the practice was limited to this point!
A few feet of black curtains were hung along the long walls of the indoor training area at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. A small gap was left open, allowing only partial glimpses of the players walking, with no further details visible. Although there wasn’t an official lockdown announcement, since Saturday, the national team’s Champions Trophy prep has been conducted in this closed-off manner.
In the first two days, not all players from the Champions Trophy squad participated. On Saturday, Tanjid Hasan, Tanzim Hasan, Zakir Ali, Mustafizur Rahman, and Soumya Sarkar joined the camp. The first four had already started individual practice after being excluded from the first phase of the BPL.
On the official start day of the camp, there were more coaches than players present. Head coach Phil Simmons, senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin, fast bowling coach Andre Adams, spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed, and two local coaches, Sohel Islam and Talha Zubayer, were invited to join the five-day camp.
On Sunday, the second day of the camp, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, and Nasum Ahmed joined in, along with local coach Ashikur Rahman.
The six players from Fortune Barishal and Chittagong Kings who played in the BPL final—Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Towhid Hridoy, Rishad Hossain, and Parvez Hossain—were given a two-day break. Mehedi Hasan Miraz, captain of the Khulna Tigers who played in the second qualifier, was also granted time off. The Barishal players took the BPL trophy to Barishal on Sunday and will join the preparation camp on Monday.
Before leaving for the UAE, the entire team will train together for three days. Shanto, Miraz, and others will depart for the UAE on Thursday night to prepare for their first match against India on February 20. After a few days of preparation in Dubai, Bangladesh will head to Pakistan for the remaining two matches.
After nearly a month and a half of the BPL and a T20 series against the West Indies, Bangladesh’s cricketers are now focusing on the challenge of switching back to One-Day International (ODI) format. While both formats are white-ball games, it will still require adjustment.
However, there are concerns regarding Shanto’s poor form and lack of match practice. He played fewer than five games in the entire BPL for Barishal, with his last match being on January 16. Though his team spoke of combinations, Shanto’s performance has been lacking. In the five matches he played, he failed to score double digits in four of them, accumulating only 56 runs. Due to injury, he missed the West Indies tour in December, so he’s facing a significant gap in match practice.
On the other hand, Parvez’s form has raised some doubts after the squad announcement. He struggled to score in several BPL matches but showed signs of returning to form by scoring 70+ in two of his last four matches, including a vital 78 in the final that helped Chittagong reach a nearly 200-run target.
Tanjid’s BPL was outstanding, with 485 runs in 12 matches, including one century and three fifties. He also hit 36 sixes, the most by any Bangladeshi player in a single season.
After recovering from injury, Soumya Sarkar returned to form with a 74-run innings off 48 balls against Khulna Tigers in the final days of the BPL.
The middle-order also presents concerns, with Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur, and Hridoy not performing at their best. Hridoy showed promise with an 82-run innings before the final but struggled in the title match, scoring only 32 runs off 28 balls. He has mostly batted at the top order in BPL, but will be playing in the middle order for the national team.
Mahmudullah played some cameo innings early in the tournament but couldn’t maintain that form in later matches. Similarly, Mushfiq, who scored only one forty in nine innings, didn’t get many opportunities to bat throughout the season.
In the bowling department, Taskin had a record-breaking BPL, taking 25 wickets in 12 matches, the most in a single BPL season. He was consistent throughout the tournament. Nahid, Tanzim, and Mustafiz also played important roles for their respective teams.
In spin, Nasum and Rishad were in good form. Miraz, the best all-rounder of the tournament, was named the BPL’s Best Player. Rishad also displayed his readiness to perform under pressure, hitting two sixes in the final against Chittagong.
However, the BPL’s T20 format offers a different atmosphere and mindset compared to the ODI format. The team will now transition to ODIs for the Champions Trophy, where they aim to replicate or even exceed their success from the 2017 semi-final appearance. The preparation phase will focus on addressing all gaps to ensure a strong performance in the upcoming tournament.
