Cricket ops for 1 Test against Zim

The Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) cricket operations committee wants the Tigers to play at least one Test against Zimbabwe in January next year apart from three T20Is.

The recommendation was made public after a committee meeting in Mirpur yesterday. The decision though will be finalised only if the board members of the BCB and Zimbabwe Cricket accept the proposal.

Bangladesh were initially supposed to play at least two Tests against Zimbabwe in January. However, developments last week suggested that both the boards were keen on putting the Tests on hold and focusing on T20Is since the ICC World T20 is around the corner.

However, the final proposal made by the cricket operations committee seems to follow a balanced approach.

"Zimbabwe Cricket had sent their proposal and asked if we could play five T20Is. But we have proposed one Test and three T20Is," said Naimur Rahman, chairman of BCB's cricket operations committee.

"If you look, most of the other nations are playing Test cricket and they will also be playing the World Cup. We feel that if a team plays Test cricket it can be ready for all the three formats but it's not the same if we play just T20 cricket. Test cricket provides you with good practice.

"Also we have been trying to increase the number of Tests in our FTP (Future Tours Programme). So if we go on to cancel the number of Tests, that may have a negative impact," added Naimur.

Naimur further said the committee has proposed that Bangladesh play two Tests and an ODI series in Zimbabwe in July. "We have three Tests due against Zimbabwe and we are hoping we can play one here and two on their home turf in July," said Naimur.

If everything goes according to plan then Zimbabwe will arrive in Bangladesh on January 11. The matches of the series are likely to take place in Khulna and Sylhet.

The other issue discussed was regarding a possibility of organising a camp at Dharamsala before the start of the qualifying round of the World Cup. However, Naimur pointed out that the plan wasn't likely to yield any positive results.

"There were talks about hosting a training camp in Dharamsala before the Asia Cup [before mid-February] because we don't have time to host a camp there after the Asia Cup, since it ends on March 6 and the World Cup begins on March 9.

"We don't think it will yield anything good since the temperatures over there in February would be around six to eight degrees. On the contrary, in March that will be above 16 degrees. So in terms of acclimatising to the conditions there, it won't be of much use to the players," explained Naimur.

Furthermore, the committee also said that it would permit Bangladesh's players to play in the Pakistan Super League provided that they don't have any injury issues.