Mominul the surprise as Tigers begin preparation for Sri Lanka series

Bangladesh national team players began their preparation for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka under head coach Chandika Hathurusingha at the Mirpur Indoors on Monday even as majority of the stars are busy with BPL duties.

Hathurusingha held a meeting for around 15 minutes with Najmul Hossain Shanto, Zakir Hasan, Nayeem Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Mominul Haque among those present. Returning T20 opener Mohammad Naim was also in the session but the biggest surprise was perhaps Mominul's presence in the session given that his franchise, Rangpur Riders, were playing the first qualifier against Comilla Victorians in the evening.

Sri Lanka are expected to arrive in Bangladesh on March 1, the very day the BPL ends. Both visiting Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be heading to Sylhet soon and the Bangladesh players will have little time to calibrate themselves as international cricket returns.

The tour will start with a three-match T20I series, starting from March 4 in Sylhet before the ODIs in March 13, 15 and 18 respectively in Chattogram. The white-ball series would be followed by two Tests – part of the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle -- on March 22 and March 30 in Sylhet and Chattogram respectively.