Feels good to know Sri Lanka tour is confirmed: Soumya

Bangladesh opener Soumya Sarkar said after today's individual practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur that he felt very good to know that the Tigers' upcoming tour of Sri Lanka has now been confirmed. 

Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play a three-Test series in Sri Lanka in July-August before the series was postponed. After months of discussion between the two concerned boards -- BCB and SLC -- it was yesterday confirmed through a media release that the Bangladesh national team will return to competitive cricket following a break imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, through their tour of Sri Lanka, slated to begin with a Test series from October 24. 

"Obviously it feels good to know that cricket is going to resume. It used to make me sad seeing England play although it was also a good feeling to see international cricket has returned. Yesterday we learned that our tour [to Sri Lanka] has been confirmed and it really feels good to know that," said Soumya after completing his running, gym and indoor batting sessions in Mirpur today. 

Apart from the three-match Test series in Sri Lanka -- part of the ICC Test Championship, Bangladesh are also likely to play a T20I series but the tour itinerary is yet to be confirmed.

Bangladesh are likely to leave for Sri Lanka on September 23 with the HP team after a 10-12 days of practice period in the country in mid-September. Soumya thought that leaving for the tour about a month before the scheduled start of the series will give the players a chance to practice and it also is now a necessity to go ahead of time for safety reasons. 

"I think the team will have good practice going there a month prior to the series. Although it seems a long time [going to Sri Lanka a month before the scheduled start of the series] we need to do it due to safety reasons. We will just have to consider it as our team work," concluded Soumya.