HP’s SL tour in doubt

There are question marks over Bangladesh's upcoming tour of Sri Lanka and as per the latest updates, the SLC are only willing to host the national team and not the High Performance (HP) squad.

SLC have rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) request to bring a 65-member contingent, a Sunday Observer report said.

There had been complications over the delay in finalising the health protocols and following Sri Lanka Cricket officials' discussion with the government health authorities, it was decided that a 'mandatory 14-day quarantine period,' will have to be met.

Till yesterday no official update was made over the suggested 14-day quarantine for the visitors by the Sri Lankan health authorities. But according to Bangladesh Cricket Board, the SLC officials had previously informed them of a seven-day quarantine ahead of their upcoming three-match Test series.

The BCB had earlier planned to send both their national and High Performance teams together after completing a short residential conditioning camp at home. The HP side were also planned to undergo a training camp along with the national team in Sri Lanka and were also expected to play few warm up matches before taking part in a series against their Lankan counterparts.

More than sixty members from Bangladesh were to travel to the island nation but according to the sources, the SLC had asked the BCB to reduce that number to thirty for the upcoming tour which means the HP team's tour might get suspended for the time being.

"Nothing is final yet, it will take another three-four days to finalise. We are in constant touch with them. It requires at least 32-34 members including the players and the support staff for the national team.  But it's not only just about the Sri Lankan board as its their national issue as well. They are discussing the matter and we are also thinking. Until everything is clear we are unable to talk about HP separately at the moment," Naimur Rahman Durjoy, chairman of High Performance unit told the media earlier today.

According to BCB, the SLC is facing some problems to develop their tour plans and might need some late adjustments due to the delay in preparing the official schedule as well as creating the bio-bubble plan. It is obviously understandable, as things are changing rapidly worldwide in the current scenario.

Bangladesh had already conducted the coronavirus tests of the 24 members expected to tour Sri Lanka and the contingent includes cricketers, support staff and a few members of the HP side. BCB is also planning a week-long residential camp ahead of the tour.