Rain Interrupts, but Bangladesh Manage Two Training Sessions in Sylhet

The Bangladesh cricket team spent a day juggling between rain and training sessions in Sylhet, where the weather turned the practice routine into a game of hide-and-seek.

From early morning, the Sylhet sky was covered with dark clouds. By noon, light drizzle quickly transformed into heavy downpours, leaving the ground unfit for practice and forcing the team to halt their activities.

Sports journalist Saiful Rupok of Ekattor Television observed, “It looks like today’s practice might not happen. Just like yesterday, the players may have to return to the hotel.”

However, the rain subsided in the afternoon, allowing head coach Phil Simmons to take the players out onto the secondary ground at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. Under the supervision of the fitness trainer, Litton Das, Tanzid Tamim, and Parvez Hossain Emon carried out short running drills in three groups.

Later, on the central wicket of the main ground, Tanzid, Parvez, Towhid Hridoy, and Mahedi Hasan went into batting practice. Power-hitting coach Julian Wood oversaw the session, encouraging the batters as they worked on clearing the ropes. Hridoy’s big shots drew particular praise from the coach, though others also received vocal encouragement.

Meanwhile, on the secondary ground, players engaged in batting and bowling practice across four nets in the southeast section, while on the west side of the field, close to the hill, a group of players worked on short-throwing fielding drills under a coach’s guidance. Pacer Nahid Rana received special attention during this session.

But just as training picked up, the dark clouds returned, and heavy rain poured down again. Players were seen running for cover, some jokingly shouting, “Rain is coming, so run, run!”

The afternoon session was suspended due to the downpour. Yet as evening fell, the rain finally cleared, and training resumed under floodlights. This time, two separate nets were set up on either side of the central wicket: one for spinners and the other for pacers. Tanzid and Emon initially faced the spinners, while Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar took on the fast bowlers. Later, they switched roles, but both Shanto and Soumya struggled repeatedly against spin.

As Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain prepared to bowl at the end of the session, rain struck once again. One batter, sprinting off the field, laughed and said, “My batting is done, and so is today’s practice.”

Despite the interruptions, Bangladesh managed to train in both the afternoon and evening sessions. Journalist Saiful Rupok viewed it as a positive outcome, noting, “At least the day didn’t end empty-handed. Getting back onto the ground in the evening was a bonus. The focus was on power-hitting, and the team is in that process. Success won’t come overnight, but today’s practice was valuable.”