‘It’s a war we are waging’

The resumption of cricket in Bangladesh amid the coronavirus outbreak initially seemed to be simple enough, but unfortunately things have become complicated with a few of the support staff – including a trainer -- displaying coronavirus-like symptoms.

Individual training sessions had been taking place over the past month and a half but the symptoms forced the Bangladesh Cricket Board to suspend training for three days.

According to BCB's chief physician Debashish Chowdhury, the development reflects the difficulties in coping with the pandemic and operating within it. He said that they will increase the vigilance when the individual training resumes.

"Obviously, it was never that easy to maintain all the safety measures in such testing times and I think we were lucky to some extent. It's like a war which we are waging every single day and it is difficult to maintain distancing if we think practically. But still, we are planning to have someone in the training session to monitor the distancing of players as at times players are unable to follow the protocols," Debashish told The Daily Star.

While individual training was thought to be the first step towards group training, Debashish said the medical team will be able to monitor better if they get the team for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour within a few days.

"It will depend on the situation, whether we can go for individual training in the coming days after a couple of days'break. It will be easier for us to monitor and start group trainingif we get the team for the upcoming tour. We are planning to have one more round of Covid-19tests as previously we were supposed to have three but now, we are thinking of an early round of tests as well," he said.

The cricketers have already had an online meeting on Thursday with the presence of two Covid-19 specialists where they were briefed not just about the medical aspect but also training issues.

"Look, it's always going to be difficult to adapt to the new normal as this is a highly contagious virus which the entire world is struggling with at the moment. It is not something you can fight against simply with force or sheer will;instead, we have to be more careful. As a player, obviously I want to return to the field but the fact is that things are not as simple as we are thinking," said a national cricketer, requesting anonymity.