A combo picture shows Bangladesh players Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun and Shafiul Islam during their respective individual training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday. — BCB photos

Cricketers finally made their long awaited return to the cricket field on Sunday, with seven players taking the field on different venues, to bring an end to the country’s four-month-long cricketing shutdown.

After much hesitation, Bangladesh Cricket Board opened the gates of four of its facilities for the national cricketers, where they could train in a bio-secure environment.

A total of nine cricketers availed this opportunity and each of them were assigned a specific time-slot by the board and were given a number of other rules and regulations to follow to keep the training facilities safe from the COVID-19 threat.

Former Bangladesh skipper and the cricketer who was most vocal about resuming outdoor training activities, Mushfiqur Rahim was rightly the first player to begin training at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at 10:00am.

Mushfiq first carried out some fitness drills and then entered the indoors where he satisfied his itch of batting by facing a bowling machine.

Mohammad Mithun and Shafiul Islam also began their individual training at Mirpur, with the former first practicing his batting before moving to the academy field for running and the latter only running and doing some fitness drills.

Mithun told New Age that the sweet sound of ball hitting the bat was the most pleasant part of his first day’s training.

‘The sound of bat hitting the ball was a real pleasure; it gave me peace of mind! I heard it after so many days!’ Mithun said.

He also informed that the number support staff were quite limited and he had to adjust accordingly.

‘It’s all about our personal practice. Only [cricket operations manager] Sabbir [khan] bhai and [Strength and conditioning coach] Tushar [Kanti Howladar] bhai were there.’

Mithun also felt a bit rusty after the long break but hoped to regain his touch soon.

‘Today, after long four months I got the opportunity to train in field. Batting, running everything seemed a bit difficult. For last few days we did everything at home so it will take a little time to adjust. But I hope that day by day, I can get back in previous shape.’

Imrul Kayes, the fourth player assigned to train at Mirpur, will begin his training today.

Venue Manager of Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Joydeep Das told New Age that Khaled Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed completed their respective training in accordance with the standard health protocol.

In Khulna, Mehedi Hasan and Nurul Hasan arrived at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium at their allotted time and trained individually.

The only cricketer set to train at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, Nayeem Hasan, missed first day’s training due to water logging at his locality.

‘I was very keen to train but heavy shower in Chattogram caused water logging in our locality [Bohoddarhat], the road was submerged, could not get the car out. So I can’t start practice today [Sunday].’

The low number of cricketers beginning practice didn’t bode a good sign in terms of a possible restart of the Dhaka Premier League.

But BCB’s chief medical officer Debashis Chowdhury expected the number to increase gradually.

‘Few players might be overly cautious, some are observing the situation. So it’s not a bad sign, I believe after Eid Vacation the number will increase, but it’s easier for us to manage everything well when the number is low.’

The practice schedule will continue till July 26, after that there will be a one week vacation for Eid.