Bangabandhu National Stadium stands with many memories. At one time Akram-Bulbul-Nannura used to play cricket in this field, shared with football. Here they said goodbye to their cricket career with many memories. Among the cricketers in the current squad, only Mahmudullah has experience of playing cricket here. That too is domestic cricket only. Although none of the rest of the cricketers had the experience of playing on this field, Nazmul Hossain Shanto-Mehedi Hasan Miraj-Nahid Rana ran on that field and brought back the memories of the past.
International cricket departed from Bangabandhu National Stadium on January 31, 2005. Since then, the permanent address of cricket in the country is the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. So is cricket going to return to Bangabandhu Stadium again? No, nothing like that. The Zimbabwean cricket team will step into Dhaka on April 28 to play a 5-match T20 series. Basically Shanta-Miraj-Litton came to this stadium to test the fitness of the cricketers before that series.
Australian strength and conditioning coach Nathan Keighley held a running session for the cricketers at the athletics track from 6 am to 7:30 am on Saturday. Nazmul Hossain Shantara ran 160 meters divided into two parts. Two pacers were the best of all.
Several people became memorable by going to the field early in the morning. In 2004, the then young Mahmudullah played in a domestic cricket tournament at the Bangabandhu Stadium. He became memorable when he entered the Bangabandhu Stadium on Saturday morning. National team manager Nafees Iqbal also has many memories in this stadium. While commemorating himself at the Bangabandhu Stadium, Nafees said, ‘I first came to this field in 1994. Many iconic cricketers used to play here. I used to come to the field to see them. I played the important innings of my career at this ground in 2004, I also scored a century in a warm-up match against the India U-19 team. Maybe I didn’t understand then. But now I understand that innings was very important. Every inch of Bandhubandhu Stadium carries history. Players of our generation, not just cricketers, but players from other fields will say the same.’
1. u09b2u09cdu09b2 u09beu09b9 u09b0u09bfu09dfu09beu09a6u0993u0964 “}”> While new cricketers may not have any memory of Bangabandhu Stadium, Nafees is sure the new generation knows this stadium very well. The manager of the cricket management department told the media, ‘Those who are the new generation, they may not have played here. But must have heard about this stadium. Many were born around 2000. They are not even supposed to play. But being the iconic stadium, its story must have been heard. Look, usually not so many people are supposed to come to see a fitness test at 6 am. Since Bangabandhu Stadium, it has come. It was a great experience for all.’
This fitness test started at 6 am on Saturday and lasted till 7:30 am. First, the cricketers did a light warm-up. Do light stretching. Finally split into two and run the 1600m sprint. The rest of the fitness test will be held at the Sher Bangla Stadium. Such fitness training takes place before the start of any series. All these things used to happen at Mirpur Sher Bangla Stadium. This time it happened at Bangabandhu Stadium. Keeping in mind the busy schedule in all the editions this year, the fitness status of the cricketers has been tested. The Bangladesh team will play 8 Tests, 3 ODIs and at least 18 T20 matches in the next 7 months. This session was held with 35 cricketers from around the national team. Among the regular cricketers, Mustafizur Rahman was in the IPL, Soumya Sarkar was on his way back from injury and Shakib Al Hasan was in the United States. Taskin Ahmed and Taijul Islam were also absent due to muscle strain last week.
Finally, Australian strength and conditioning coach Nathan Keighley kept the cricketers running on the athletics track of the Bangabandhu Stadium. Today, 35 cricketers participated in 1600m run and 40m sprint on the athletics track wearing GPS trackers at the request of this Australian trainer. Two pacers were the best of all. Nahid Rana became the first in one group, Tanjim Hasan Shakib finished first in another group. Among the cricketers of the current team, the senior 38 Peruno Mahmudullah finished the race at the end!
At the end of the fitness session, trainer Iftekhar Islam Ifti told the media that through this they wanted to understand the overall fitness of the players, ‘I understood the condition of the players through this test. There is nothing wrong with it. DPL gone, BPL gone. Then to find out what their fitness status is (this initiative). After knowing this, I will find out who should make the players practice what. I will let them know and we will apply them that way.’
Explaining the reason for using the athletics track for running, the BCB trainer said, ‘Choosing an athletics track is actually a matter of timing. If we follow internationally there are several testing methods, we took a 1600 meter time trial today. If we’re not on the athletics track, then the proper timing…because that’s how it’s calculated. It seems new to them. All in all good.’
Ifti also said, ‘We took 1600 meters to see how their cardiovascular system works, how their capacity is. Take the sprint test to see how fast they look. 40m sprint which was how fast in the first 20m. Usually a run out for a meter or two or we don’t save a four for a centimeter or two. Sprinting saw how to get faster. And at 1600 meters, I saw the capacity of the field.’
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