|| CF Correspondent ||

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) selection panel has worked to finalise the list of a primary squad of Bangladesh cricket team for the week-long residential camp after holding discussions with head coach and captain.

It’s learnt from the BCB sources that the selection panel formed a 27-man primary squad from where the extended 20-21 player final squad might be toured to Sri Lanka for the three-match Test series.

Bangladesh are scheduled to fly to Colombo for the crucial series on September 27, almost one month before the outset of the Test series, starting October 24.

All kinds of sports were suspended for the last five months due to the newly-emerged COVID-19. And so, there is a huge interest and enthusiasm among the Tigers’ numerous fans and supporters around the squad for the Sri Lanka series.

The question comes to the fore which players are getting their places in the 27-man primary squad and which players are eligible to tour with the team finally.

But it’s a big challenge to be corona free before going on tour to the island nation. This time it’s not enough to draw the attention of the selectors and the coaches. It's a big challenge for the players to be free.

The prime condition is to get through the corona tests they have in front of them on September 18, 21 and 27 after the first-phase test. It will be meaningless to stay in the team if anyone is tested positive for corona and misses the Sri Lanka tour.

Currently, all the players and officials and coaching staff are corona free barring player Saif Hassan and trainer Neek Lee. Meanwhile the first phase of the corona test has been finished without a big blow.

The BCB tested Mohammad Mithun and Ottis Gibson for the last time but they have tested negative for corona, said BCB chief physician Dr Debashis Chowdhury.