Bangladesh players to gear up for World Test Championship with NCL stint
Following Bangladesh's 224-run defeat to Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Chittagong last month, national selector Habibul Bashar has made it clear that senior players will have to mandatorily participate in the league, which begins on 10 October.
"Without any valid reason, no one will be allowed to skip NCL," Bashar said. "Suppose someone has hamstring injury or broke a finger, then it is something for consideration, but without these reasons, we will not entertain other explanation as everyone will have to play the NCL.
"They [national cricketers] need to make the best use of NCL as it will provide them with an opportunity to spend some time in the middle and they must make that into a habit, as we have seen some of our leading batsmen were unable to do it against Afghanistan."
The former captain further added that players who are currently playing in foreign leagues or A tours would be the only ones to be excused from playing the first-class competition.
"It is a different case for players who are playing in the foreign leagues," he said. "But some players take leave showing family issues or for the purpose of travelling, but these things won't be tolerated this time. If anyone is playing cricket in some other country or suffering some serious injury, then it is a different matter and we will consider that. But apart from that, we are not ready to consider anything."
Senior players Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah are certain to be a part of the tournament, while Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das are currently playing in the Caribbean Premier League.
Akram Khan, the chairman of BCB's cricket operations, said that the team will have a preparation camp, beginning on 25 October, where the players will be under the guidance of newly-appointed bowling consultant Daniel Vettori and limited-overs batting coach Neil McKenzie.
"We will start our preparation camp for the upcoming India series from October 25 and he [Vettori] will be available from the start of the camp as he is coming before that," Akram said. "Vettori will be available for around 11 days in his role with Bangladesh, which the tour of India 2019, the Asia Cup and tour of New Zealand in 2020 and the World T20 2020.
"McKenzie will stay during the first Test against India [as the batting consultant]. We are trying to have him both with red and white-ball games because it will be good for our team."
Bangladesh will play three T20Is against India, beginning on 3 November, before the two-match Test series gets underway in Indore on 14 November.