Rain disrupts training, clouds Sylhet series

Recurrent rain interruptions in Sylhet has majorly disrupted the Bangladesh team's preparation camp ahead of the three-match T20I series against the Netherlands, which will be followed by the Asia Cup, and raised a question over the logic of holding a series in late-monsoon in the most rain-soaked region of the country.

Bangladesh cancelled their practice session in the evening at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Thursday due to poor weather. Players like Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan Sohan and Jaker Ali Anik trained at the indoors under the supervision of senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin after the regular practice got called off.

This was far from a one-off incident as since the team's camp began on August 20, persistent rain and wet outfield has forced the players to leave the field and train indoors on quite a few occasions.

Even the Netherlands team's preparation got hampered by the weather as after coming to the ground in the afternoon to conduct their first practice session yesterday, they could only warm-up before rain spoiled their training.

Bangladesh usually don't host international cricket during this time of the year. Since 2017, the Tigers have played only three home series in the August-September window – a two-Test series against Australia that year and back-to-back T20I series against Australia and New Zealand in 2021.

As the Tigers have not played any international games since mid-July and the Asia Cup is coming up, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged this series as an exception.

But the good intentions behind holding the series could get washed away as persistent rain in Sylhet has made it difficult for the grounds-men to prepare good sporting wickets.

Moreover, according to the weather forecast, there is a high probability of rain during all three matches, scheduled on August 30, September 1 and 3.

BCB's head of turf management Tony Hemming seemed very much aware of the constant rain threat.

"I can't comment on the wickets due to protocol… But I think this will be a series where there is chance of rain every day," Tony told The Daily Star on Thursday.

Bangladesh skipper Litton Das, however, did not want to fuss about the weather as it is not in their control and instead, wanted to focus on using this series to prepare for the Asia Cup.

"Every international match is a challenge. The Netherlands are also a good team. Maybe they don't play much in these conditions, but if the match is played on a good wicket, they are used to playing on good wickets. So, there will be challenges for both sides," said Litton.

"If we have the opportunity to check some players before the Asia Cup, we will do that. But at the same time, it's international cricket, so you have to go out there to win," he added.