Fitness management key with 24-player pool

Bangladesh have a few series ahead of the 2023 ODI World Cup and the team management is still in the process of building towards that event in India with an eye on increasing the player pool and managing the workload of players.

Pacer Taskin Ahmed is rehabilitating following an injury while the rest of the stars -- bar Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman -- are participating in the current three-day camp in Sylhet.

It will be important to keep the pool of 24 players fresh for the showpiece event and BCB chief selector Minhajul Abedin said that the likes of Afif Hossain, Mahmudullah Riyad and players such as Mohammad Naim, who found runs in the ongoing Dhaka Premier League, were all being monitored.

The Tigers will play Ireland in England in May before taking on Afghanistan at home. Their final assignment ahead of the World Cup will be Asia Cup. The team management had previously informed that the Asia Cup squad was also going to be the World Cup squad.

The recent run of good results also imbues them with confidence regarding some tinkering, with fitness management being a key process.

"We have quite a few back-to-back series coming up with the Asia Cup and Afghanistan series to be played after the Ireland series. We are thinking about each and every series from here on. Since there are a lot of games, fitness is an important issue and we are going forward with that in mind. We hope that by readying ourselves with every series, we can prepare the World Cup squad in between the Asia Cup," Minhajul told the media yesterday.

Speaking about Afif Hossain, the selector said that players were being monitored. He added that Riyad is also on their radar and that Naim Sheikh was dropped due to lack of attacking intent but his DPL form kept his under the umbrella.

"Naim is doing well and he was in our HP side and we will be looking at him in the A team's matches. We have seen good performances in the DPL and Naim will of course be in the pool of 24 players being monitored."

Performances in the coming Ireland series will be another vital measuring stick ahead of the showpiece event. Pacer Mrittunjoy Chowdhury has been included in the squad with the intention of readying back-up options.

                      "We have quite a few pacers who are being readied. Mrittunjoy is one of those players who is in the pool of the 10 pacers being considered. The team management has to see some players from series to series and we included Mrittunjoy as part of that. He will be able to improve as he works with the team management and he will be able to prepare himself according to what we need from a back-up bowler," Minhajul said.