Russell Domingo, the head coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team, said he was focusing on domestic cricket at the time as there was no international tour. He attended a virtual press conference on Friday for the first time during the epidemic.
Bangladesh played their last international match against Zimbabwe in March this year. After that, the Tigers were supposed to go to Pakistan but did not go due to the Covid-19 situation. For the same reason, Bangladesh’s visit to Ireland and Australia’s visit to Bangladesh was also postponed.
The Tigers were scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka on September 26 to take part in a three-match Test series after a long hiatus due to Covid-19 as part of the ongoing World Cup Test Championship. However, the two boards were later forced to suspend the series due to strict restrictions on Covid-19. After going to Sri Lanka to take part in the series, Bangladesh was asked to stay in quarantine for 14 days, but the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) called for a seven-day quarantine. The series was postponed as Sri Lanka did not agree.
In a virtual conversation with the media, Domingo said, “I am very disappointed that Sri Lanka is not being visited. I think the BCB has decided not to play in accordance with the conditions. It would have been very difficult for us to play a Test match without any preparation and with 14 days of quarantine. I fully support the decision of the BCB.
It has been almost seven months since the Bangladesh team did not play together. After the last Zimbabwe series, we expected some good progress. BCB is organizing some domestic leagues. I have received one or two invitations from abroad to play cricket in December. Nothing has been confirmed yet. I think it needs to be domestic cricket properly. As a coach, I think boys should play domestic cricket first and then go on to play international cricket.
The Tigers are currently busy training as a team. They have started a 15-day training camp in the biological safety zone, where they will play three inter-squad matches.
Domingo said all of the players have good fitness. The BCB’s personal training program has helped cricketers get ready to play.