In Bangladesh’s 26-member training camp for the next Afghanistan series at home, veteran campaigner Mahmudullah Riyad was not selected to participate.
Today was the first day of the training camp, which was held at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Assistant coach Nic Pothas has been in charge of the batting practice session from the very beginning.
During today’s session at SBNCS, Mohammad Naim, a batter for Bangladesh, pays attention to Nic Pothas, an assistant coach for the team. Photo: Firoz Ahmed
Five of the 26 cricketers who are expected to compete in the red-ball and white-ball series against the Afghans have not yet arrived at the training camp, according to the manager of the team, Nafees Iqbal.
It came as a surprise when Mahmdullah was not included in the squad since, with the 2023 One-Day International World Cup in mind, Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal had said that Mahmudullah will be considered for the number seven place in the batting order, and the BCB president, Nazmul Hassan Papon, echoed similar comments.
Nafis further informed the media that Mahmudullah, who had lost his spot in the ODI team following the home series against England in March and had gone on to miss two ODI series against Ireland since then, was not called despite being present in the nation. Mahmudullah had missed both of the ODI series that Ireland played against Bangladesh since March.
Nafees responded to a question about Mahmudullah by saying, “No (concerning Mahmudullah not being in the preparatory camp), otherwise you would have seen him.” This was in response to the fact that the question had been asked.
The Tigers will begin preparing in earnest with the formal training session beginning on June 04, a day after head coach Chandika Hathurusingha returns to the nation. An announcement of the team for the solitary test match against Afghanistan is scheduled to take place on June 14, and it is anticipated that this will take place.