‘Cricketers’ fitness satisfactory’
All eyes were on Shakib Al Hasan on the first day of the fitness test for the cricketers yesterday as the champion all-rounder returned to the home of cricket -- the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium -- after 376 days since being banned for one year for not reporting corrupt approaches from a bookie last year.
Players, divided into four groups, underwent the test where the first lot of twenty cricketers were supposed to give fitness test at 10:00am. Shakib reached the stadium at around 8.30am and roamed around the place where he had registered numerous records in the past.
Shakib, however, did not take part in the fitness test. The Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) trainer Tushar Kanti Howlader informed that the BCB's physio Julian Calefato wanted to assess the condition of the cricketer before taking the test.
"As Shakib returned after a long time, our physio Julian wanted to consult with him before taking the rest. He is expected to give the test within the next two days," Tushar told The Daily Star.
But according to sources, there was another reason behind that. The top-ranked ODI all-rounder, who returned a negative coronavirus test the other day, expressed his discomfort in taking the beep test with other players who were yet to undergo their coronavirus tests.
Shakib found himself under hot water after he attended inauguration of a super shop in the capital last Friday less than twelve hours since his return from the US, contrary to health safety guidelines of going into quarantine after returning from abroad, even if the returnee has a Covid-19 negative certificate.
When the issue was addressed to the BCB's cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan, the former skipper informed that the board has taken all safety measures while conducting the fitness test.
"We have to make sure health safety of the players and we instructed everyone to follow those. We will take the coronavirus tests of all the prayers when we will create the bio-bubble, but before that we have ensured health safety for every cricketer," Akram said.
Apart from Shakib, the other cricketers did take part in the mandatory fitness test and a total of seventy cricketers gave the test on the first day.
Eight players, including the likes of Hasanuzzaman (10.10), Irfan Hossain (10.10), Arafat Sunny jnr (10.1), Rubel Mia (10.2), Shubhashish Roy (9.8), Iftekhar Sajjad Rony (10.8), Sohag Gazi (9.4) and Avishek Mitra 10.6 failed the test as they could not achieve the eleven-point benchmark for the beep test.
Nihaduzzaman top-scored with 13.4 while Robiul Islam and Pinak Ghosh scored 13.
According to BCB's head of physical performance Nicholas Lee, majority of the players looked fit and they are heading towards gaining match fitness in the coming days.
"Apart from a handful, all the cricketers looked to be in good shape and in fact, it seems like the players focused on their fitness during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. There are no issues regarding national and high performance players in terms of fitness. I think we are in a transition from physical fitness towards match fitness and I am hopeful we will be able to get that by playing and by the time international cricket resumes in January hopefully," said Lee.