The programme started last Sunday with Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun and Shafiul Islam taking the opportunity in Dhaka while Syed Khaled in Sylhet, Nurul Hasan Shohan, Mahadi Hasan in Khulna and Nayeem Islam trained in Chattogram.
BCB had discouraged outdoor practice during this pandemic. But the cricketers asked the board to provide facilities so that they can train alone. BCB responded positively by providing training facilities at major cricketing venues around the country.
Nine cricketers joined this programme when it started, but four others joined later.
“I was unable to run for a long time during the lockdown. I tried on the stairs of my home, but it was risky for the knees. This is the first time I ran a long time- 30 minutes,” Shaiful Islam, the right-arm pacer, had told the media after the first day of individual training.
On the same day, Mithun had said it was tough for him to run for a long time because he was stuck at home for four months. He had said: “We got the chance to practice in the field after four months. It’s great. But it feels tough to run or bat now because we were stuck at home for a long time. I hope everything will be normal in the next few days.”
Imrul Kayes, the left-arm opener, joined this programme on July 21. He said it is a big chance for players to improve their fitness as they got an unexpected and long gap from professional cricket.
“We can make our fitness better than ever if we take advantage of this point in time. I think it’s a rare opportunity for us to develop our fitness level. I had been working on my fitness at home. But it’s a new feeling after a long time. We now can practice at the field which comes as a great relief. I took the bat after four months. It really feels good,” Imrul had told the media.
This programme might continue after the holidays of Eid. It is expected that more cricketers will join then.
Meanwhile, at least 14 international matches of Bangladesh have been postponed due to coronavirus. They include five Tests which are part of the ongoing World Test Championship. All of these matches are slated to be rescheduled for future dates.
However, the board is now working hard to make the Sri Lanks series possible in October this year. ICC has recently postponed the T20 World Cup 2020 which was slated to be played in October in Australia. After the postponement of this event, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in discussion to play the series in October.