Aaqib in town for pace camp

Former Pakistan pace bowler Aaqib Javed arrived in Dhaka yesterday to oversee a week-long special fast bowling camp for the national team and the pacers under the High Performance (HP) Programme.

The camp will start today and continue till August 5 at the National Cricket Academy in Mirpur. Nine pacers from the national team and 17 from the HP have been called up for the camp. The interesting aspect is that Mustafizur Rahman, who is currently in England and is nursing a shoulder injury, has also been included in this list.

According to the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the pacer's name has been included so that he can attend a few selected sessions just in case he returns from England within the next week. 

The other national pacers who will be taking part in the camp are Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Mohammad Shahid, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Shafiul Islam and Muktar Ali.

The BCB had initially contacted Aaqib to work as the national team's bowling coach. But Aaqib had to decline the offer since he had joined the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League. However, he had also said that he would be interested in taking part in a short-term programme with the BCB.