Bangladesh players to take NCL route to toughen up for India Tests

Bangladesh's senior players have been told to mandatorily play in the first two rounds of NCL © BCB

Bangladesh cricketers are set to start their preparation for the upcoming India tour by taking part in the National Cricket League, country's traditional first-class tournament, scheduled to start across the country from October 10. Bangladesh, who were recently humbled by Afghanistan at home in a one-off Test, will open their Test championship campaign with the two-match Test series against India.

Senior trio of Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah will appear in the NCL after a long gap. Tamim and Mahmudullah played in NCL last time in 2015 when they represented Chattogram and Dhaka divisions respectively while Mushfiqur turned up for Rajshahi Division for a lone game in 2017.

National selector Habibul Bashar said that the board are not going to accept any kind of excuse for unavailability, unless really valid - like an injury concern.

"Without any valid reason, no one will be allowed to skip NCL. Suppose, someone has hamstring injury or broke a finger, then it is something for consideration but without these reasons we will not entertain other explanation as everyone will have to play the NCL," Bashar said, adding that players who are taking part in foreign leagues or A tours are the only ones who will not be considered for the tournament.

Bangladesh Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das are currently playing in the Caribbean Premier League while some of the members of the Test squad are currently playing for Bangladesh A against their Sri Lankan counterpart in a two-match four-day series that will be followed by three one-day games.

"It is a different case for players who are playing in the foreign leagues. But some players take leave showing family issues or for the purpose of travelling but these things won't be tolerated this time," he said. "But if anyone is playing cricket in some other country or suffering some serious injury, then it is a different matter and we will consider that. But apart from that we are not ready to consider anything," he said.

"They [national cricketers] need to make the best use of NCL as it will provide them with an opportunity to spend some time in the middle and they must make that into a habit, as we have seen some of our leading batsmen were unable to do it against Afghanistan," he said.

"From bowling perspective, unless you can take the load of the long-version of cricket, it will be difficult to shine as a bowling unit in Test matches. Because playing here will help them to learn how to be patient," he said.

"There will be time when nothing will go right [for the bowler in Test] but he cannot lose his mind and instead just keep on doing the basics for a long period of time and unless he is physically fit to bowl 20 to 25 overs, it is unlikely that anyone can do well in the longer formats. Considering everything we have decided that available national cricketers will have to play in the opening two rounds of NCL," he said.

Meanwhile, BCB cricket operation chairman Akram Khan informed that the preparation camp of national team for the tour of India will start from October 25 and they are expecting their newly appointed bowling consultant Daniel Vettori to be with them from the start of the camp.

"We will start our preparation camp for the upcoming India series from October 25 and he (Vettori) will be available from the start of the camp as he is coming before that," Akram said. Vettori will be available for around 11 days in his role with Bangladesh, which the tour of India 2019, the Asia Cup and tour of New Zealand in 2020 and the World T20 2020.

Akram also said that the team's white-ball batting consultant Neil McKenzie will be guiding the side in the opening Test against India, after which the BCB will take a decision on the course of action.

"McKenzie will come and he will stay during the first Test against India [ as the batting consultant]. We are trying to have him both with red and white ball game because it will be good for our teamm," he said.