Sports Reporter

Bangladesh team will travel to Abu Dhabi, UAE from Oman today after the International Cricket Council (ICC) had postponed the travel plan by a day, in order to maintain the bio-secure bubble for the teams.

According to Bangladesh team officials, the ICC rescheduled the chartered flight to Sunday evening, from Covid-19 health and safety related considerations, and Bangladesh will now travel to UAE from Muscat along with Oman and Sri Lanka in the same flight.

Bangladesh will take part in two official practice games on October 12 and 14 against Sri Lanka and Ireland, respectively, in the UAE.

Following three days of training sessions and a practice game against Oman A team on Friday, Mahmudullah Riyad and his troops rested at the team hotel in Muscat yesterday.

Liton captained the Tigers in absence of regular skipper Mahmudullah, who was rested for Friday’s warm up game against Oman A.

Bangladesh registered a comprehensive 60-run victory over Oman A after posting a huge total of 207 for four, riding on half centuries from opener Liton Das and Mohammad Naim and a blistering 15-ball 49-run knock from Nurul Hasan, that included seven sixes. Oman A team in reply were restricted to 147 for nine, courtesy of some tight bowling.

“We had an excellent outing with the bat. Naim and Liton bhai got us going and Sohan [Nurul Hasan] bhai gave the finishing. I’m hopeful that our batters will do well on the wickets here [in Oman],” said the young batsman Shamim Hossain to the media on Friday.

The left-hander also impressed with his 19-run cameo off ten balls and complemented Nurul as the Tigers hammered 81 runs in the last five overs of the innings.

“I’ve no option but to go for boundaries because I get to bat mostly after 15 overs. So I aim to finish the innings for the team,” said Shamim while giving credit to the bowlers as well.

“The bowlers played their part well too. The team combination looked good in this game and there was good communication between the players,” Shamim added.

Meanwhile Shakib al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman will be joining the team in UAE following their stint in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Mustafizur has already joined the team hotel in Dubai while Shakib, who will not be available for his IPL team for the Play-offs, is set to join today.

Bangladesh team is scheduled to return to Oman on October 15, after which they will face Scotland in their first qualifier match on October 17 at the Al Amerat Cricket Stadium in Muscat.

The Tigers will then encounter co-hosts Oman on October 19, followed by Papua New Guinea on 21, with both games to be played at the aforementioned stadium.