Cricket Operation Committee Chairman Akram Khan. COURTESY
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Director and its Cricket Operation Committee Chairman Akram Khan on Saturday said that they will rely on a local spin bowling coach for the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.
Even though Tigers spin bowling consultant Daniel Vettori is currently with Bangladesh in New Zealand to train them for the limited over series against his home team, he is unable to travel to other countries at this moment. The Tigers will leave the country for the Sri Lanka series in April, three or four days after returning to the home from New Zealand.
“We are giving priority to a local spin bowling coach on the Sri Lanka tour,” Akram Khan said. “Let’s see what happened. We are in trouble for the situation created by Covid-19 pandemic. The contract with Vettori was up to the T20 (last year’s T20 World Cup),” Akram told media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.
“There is a huge systemic problem with going to and coming from New Zealand during the pandemic time for Vettori. That’s why we can’t get him outside of New Zealand for now. We will think about what happens in the future. For the time being, a local coach will take care of our spin department in the Sri Lanka tour,” he added.
Although Vettori’s contract with BCB earlier expired, he is working as a spin bowling consultant with the Tigers during the New Zealand tour under a new contract.
This is only Vettori’s third assignment with Tigers. He had previously toured India in 2019 and was around during the home series against Zimbabwe last year.
The BCB has already started looking for a new spin coach for the national team although finding a world-class coach for the Tigers in such a short time may not be easy for the BCB, Akram admitted.
BCB director, also the former skipper of Bangladesh, said everything regarding the Sri Lanka series is finalized but they are still talking about quarantine issues with the Sri Lanka Cricket.
“We want to quarantine in Colombo, considering the facilities but they wanted us to stay outside of the city,” Akram said, adding that hopefully we’ll reach a concrete decision within a couple of days.
The two-match Test series, which is the part of the World Test Championship, was postponed twice-firstly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 and secondly due to the indifference over quarantine issues between the two countries.
“It is confirmed that this time the Test series will be held. Both of the Tests will be held in the same venue,” Akram informed.
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