Bangladesh Tigers programme proves its worth

A combined effort from players, selectors, and coaching staff, alongside a lack of interference from the board in cricketing matters during the series, led to Bangladesh's historic series win in Pakistan. When it comes to coaching and preparation in particular, the Bangladesh Tigers programme had a major role, and thus the coordination between the national team, the programme, and cricket operations can go a long way to a successful tour of India in September.

The function of the Tigers programme, which began two years ago, was often questioned. After the successful Pakistan tour, its value has finally come to the limelight, especially in how players talked about the benefits of their preparation.

In December last year, a scheme in coordination with the programme was charted out to align the national team's schedules with Bangladesh Tigers. It was done to finally realise the purpose of the programme in fulfilling how practice will take place, the schedules and the schemes with which practice will take place.

Main objectives were to keep players prepared for national team duties, particularly those not currently in the team but considered probables. When a series comes up, the programme is fine-tuned to prepare for specific goals.

Head coach Chandika Hathurusingha was fully aligned to the programme, and plans are in place for series or tournaments till June 2025. Also, the coaches in it were given full freedom on how they will manage the specific needs of individual players.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, upon returning to the country, mentioned they had clear instructions on their roles and endorsed continuity, emphasising focus on process and not on outcomes.

Maintaining this coordination, selectors had already named a pool of players in three categories for preparing the team for the India series almost two weeks ago. Players from HP had begun on September 4. The Test team players and the A team players make the other two categories.

Under the Tigers programme, the Test side will undergo preparation from September 8 to 14 before departing on the 15th, while the white-ball stars will continue preparation till September 30.

Tareq Aziz, former national team player and now a bowling coach of Bangladesh Tigers, talked about the specifics, especially regarding work with bowlers.

"We know that India's batting lineup is laced with skilful players. To beat them you need skill. We are collecting information from our analyst and planning accordingly," Tareq told reporters yesterday as the national team look forward to reaping benefits of the programme.

"How to stop certain players in T20s and get them out are things we have discussed with performance analysts to fine tune and point things out to players once things begin in full tilt on 8th, both for red-ball and white-ball bowlers. We want our players to go prepared mentally, physically, and skill-wise," he added.