Tigers’ mental health refreshed

In the new normal, quarantine and isolation taking a toll on players' mental and physical health has proven to be one of the biggest hurdle for cricketers ever since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year.

Although international cricket has resumed worldwide, cricketers have been asked to follow certain protocols and another term closely associated with sport since has been bio-secure bubble. Players have been confined to certain environments through the creation of bubbles, which have restricted cricketers' movement and at times proven to be mentally exhausting.

Interestingly, the Bangladesh team who are currently in New Zealand have been spending the best possible time as a visiting team since the pandemic.

After spending a tough 14-day quarantine period during which they had to isolate in their hotel rooms for the first seven days upon arrival in New Zealand, the visitors were allowed to practise in small groups during the next seven days.

However, given that the coronavirus situation in New Zealand is under control, the visitors have been allowed to roam around freely after the 14-day quarantine, which included a series of Covid-19 tests. It is quite rare in the context of the current world cricket that the visiting side were able to go out and enjoy their time.

Yesterday was a fun day for the Bangladesh team as they opted to take a day off from training in Queenstown to enjoy a for a day out just outside the city.

Members of the Bangladesh team went to Arthurs Point, a famous tourist attraction in Queenstown, where the Tigers enjoyed adventure sports.

Pacer Taskin Ahmed posted a video on social media as he went bungee jumping while another pacer, Rubel Hossain, was seen jet-skiing alongside Mahmudullah Riyad and Mustafizur Rahman.

While adjusting to tough New Zealand conditions has always been a huge challenge for visiting teams, the Tigers will start the series with a fresh mindset after being able to enjoy their time before the first of the three-match ODI series on March 20 in Dunedin.

According to the BCB director and the chairman of the media commitee Jalal Younus, there is no sign of mental fatigue among the cricketers. He also believed that the time had come for Bangladesh to deliver as a team in the upcoming series.

"All the players are in good shape and although the 14-day quarantine period was expected to be a tough one, everyone managed to overcome that pretty well. We had a great outing in Queenstown and the cricketers enjoyed their time a lot. I think the time has come to shift focus and perform in the upcoming series against New Zealand," Yunus told The Daily Star yesterday.