The Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) in the city saw cricketing activities after 19 years as the cricketers used the newly installed athletics tracks as part of their fitness drill on Saturday, report agencies.
Bangladesh began their preparation for the upcoming five-match T20 series against Zimbabwe with a running session at the athletics turf in Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) in the city on Saturday.
Bangladesh began their cricketing journey at this venue before all the cricketing activities were moved to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in 2005. The Bangabandhu Stadium was handed over to Bangladesh Football Federation following which cricketing activities had ceased to occur.
The Bangabandhu Stadium in the city was handed over to Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) following which cricketing activities had ceased to occur.
Among the 35 cricketers who took part in the fitness session, only Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah have had the privilege to play in this ground.
Cricketers coming to BNS, though for a short period, turned out to be a matter of discussion among the people living in old Dhaka where the stadium is situated. They eventually gathered in numbers to see the national stars.
Shahriar Nafees, former national opener and current deputy manager of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Cricket Operations, became nostalgic after returning to the ground where he started his cricketing journey.
"I came to this venue for the first time in 1994. Lot of icon cricketers played here and we used to come and see them. Every inch of the Bangabandhu Stadium has a history. Not only cricketers of our generation, other athletes as well will say the same regarding this venue," Nafees told reporters following the fitness session on Saturday.
"Those who are new they might have not played here but certainly they have heard about this stadium. Lots of them (cricketers) were born in around 2000 and they wouldn't have played here but they surely heard stories about this venue," he said.
"Look so many people are not expected to come to see fitness at six but because it is Bangabandhu you can they have come and everyone had nice experience," he added.
Nathan Kiely, BCB's newly appointed strength and conditioning coach, was present during the fitness training session as he wanted to see where his charges physically stand at the moment.
A total of 35 cricketers took part in the session that was divided with a 1600 meter running session followed by a 40-meter sprint. Three cricketers were missing, Soumya Sarkar and Taijul Islam were absent due to knee injuries while Shakib Al Hasan is currently in USA with his family.
BCB's trainer Iftekharul Islam said that the overall result was satisfactory and also added that they will make plans for their next course of action based upon the results.
"The athletics track is not available all the time and so we do it in the field. It was different and we have not taken this kind of test for long time and it looked new to them and as it was new they will take some time to get over it. We have chosen the athletics track as there is timing involved. If we want to follow international standard there are certain testing method and today we have taken 1600 meter time trial. If we do it in athletics track the timing is proper. It was new to them but it was good," said Iftekharul.
"There is nothing like pass and fail. We want to know about their fitness standard at present because we had some series and domestic tournament like BPL and DPL. After knowing their present state we will plan about individual fitness training and execute it," he said.
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