Tigers not taking Ireland Test ‘lightly’

Bangladesh's long stretch of assignments since the Asia Cup last year will pause briefly after the lone Test against Ireland, starting from Tuesday, and resume with an away ODI series against the same opponents in May. The Tigers geared up for the longer version yesterday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur but were without skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who himself had a far busier schedule off the field than rest of his teammates.

The quiet period will not be so quiet given the ongoing Dhaka Premier League (DPL) games but for Shakib and Liton Das, the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be on the agenda as they join Mustafizur Rahman following the Test.

Shakib had arrived in Dhaka on Friday, the very day of the third T20I against Ireland in Chattogram, before he played the DPL game for Mohammedan Sporting Club on Saturday, after which he returned from BKSP by a helicopter to fulfil commercial obligations.

Shakib's unavailability in a practice session is not surprising given he has been maintaining an aggressive schedule, in terms of commercial involvement, during the Ireland series. There was a question mark over Shakib's availability for the Test before his inclusion in the side on Saturday as the BCB remained unmoved from their position of not allowing players to leave for IPL during national team's assignment.

Recently, however, Shakib did have leeway in terms of attending to personal obligations during a series and apparently talked to Chandika Hathurusingha regarding yesterday's break.

"The coach is aware of his unavailability as far as I know. There is a lot of cricket to be played in the modern game and workload management is an issue, which is why he is taking rest to not be exhausted," a member of the team management informed.

The rest of the 14-member squad went about their business in preparation for the longest format. The players attended a team meeting with Hathurusingha in the dressing room before the session. Afterwards, Liton was going through wicket-keeping drills with Jamie Siddons while others performed fielding drills.

Tamim Iqbal was seen having a look at the wicket. It appeared quite greenish, indicating a challenging prospect for Ireland but also the Tigers top-order if it stays the same through to the start of the match. Slip-catching was on the agenda as four stood at slip cordon beside Liton and the wicket-keeper had a discussion with Hathurusingha following the fielding session.

The Tigers were not keen on letting their dominance slip from the two white-ball series against Ireland and Shakib and Liton had to keep their end of the bargain as captain and vice-captain of the side, which is why they were not granted NOC to skip the Test.

Asked if having the duo available was a relief, selector Abdur Razzaq said: "Having them in the side changes the environment and that's what's happening. The board had a decision regarding IPL and what the players want is also an issue. I feel that the best team should play since it's a Test. I don't think any Test matches should be taken lightly; winning is better. I also don't think we are in a position that four or five players being unavailable will not be an issue."

Liton was seen undergoing a range-hitting session after returning from his nets session. The Tigers have adopted a more aggressive policy in white-ball formats and it remains to be seen whether that will translate into the Test arena.