The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged a luncheon with the team management and the players at a city hotel today, hoping to bolster morale of cricketers who might be going through a rough phase.

ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, former T20I skipper Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Mehedi Miraz, newly-appointed T20I skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan and others attended the get-together although Test skipper Shakib Al Hasan could not attend.

A few of the players have been going through bad patches in one format or another and the BCB had also rested a few seniors for the upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe from July 30.

"It's [get-together] not a big deal. It was a special lunch to encourage the Tigers. We will hold such gatherings more going forward. It's mainly to inspire players who maybe going through a hard time and we also talked about keeping their distance from criticisms either in social media or elsewhere," BCB cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus told The Daily Star today.

A few of the players will be departing tonight at 1:40 am (Tuesday) for Zimbabwe. Pacer Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Munim Shahriar will be accompanied by team manager Nafees Iqbal and team physio.