DHAKA – Opener Imrul Kayes expressed his satisfaction after doing some batting practice at indoor facilities of the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday.
Cricketers made their long awaited return to the cricket field on Sunday to bring an end to the country’s four-month-long cricketing shutdown but Kayes was not assigned a time slot on the first day of the individual training.
His return to the cricket ground was interrupted by persistent rain, which hampered players’ running session at the Academy ground. Kayes was also denied by rain to do his running session but it simply could not prevent him from doing batting practice at bowling machine in indoor in accordance with standard health protocol.
“It’s good to be back here after four months. It’s a different feeling. We did gym and workout at our home where it was not possible to bat. So it’s a very good feeling to hit the ball with bat after four months hiatus,” Kayes said here today.
A total of nine cricketers who availed the opportunity of doing practice at four venues of the countries were given a number of other rules and regulations to follow to keep the training facilities safe from the COVID-19 threat.
Senior batsman Mushfiqur and pacer Shafiul Islam who trained on first day here at Mirpur, was given rest on Monday. Only Mithun was assigned to do training but he had to spend time in the gym and batting at indoor due to the rain, which made the outfield wet and running session impossible one.
Cricketers were confined to their home since mid March due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. Beforehand they were busy with Dhaka Premier League (DPL) and so their fitness was up to the mark.
But, the four months gap made some impact on their fitness and made them rusty, which Kayes admitted but said some more sessions would make them completely fit again.
“Hopefully we can utilize this opportunity. We can work with our skill and fitness and it’s a good time for cricket. If we can utilize this time well, I think, we will be benefited hugely in skill and fitness-wise,” he added.BSS
