‘Bangladesh Tigers’ set to be phased out
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The Bangladesh Tigers program last held its activities in 2022. Since then, the initiative for cricketers outside the national team has effectively remained inactive. The project introduced under the board led by Nazmul Hasan Papon will not return. In an effort to reduce costs, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided that there will no longer be separate camps for the Tigers and the ‘A’ team. The board will now focus solely on the High Performance (HP) unit.
BCB President Tamim Iqbal is set to sit with the HP department after the T20 series against New Zealand. Mohammad Salahuddin is expected to be appointed head coach. Instead of running three separate programs in a year, the board has considered it more cost-effective to operate under a single structure.
In the Bangladesh Tigers camp, cricketers dropped from the national team previously trained with top-level facilities. This helped them avoid individual training costs during the off-season and maintain better fitness. However, the BCB had to allocate a significant budget to maintain those facilities.
The board now sees greater financial efficiency in combining all three programs. As a result, it is merging the Bangladesh Tigers, the ‘A’ team, and the HP unit. HP in-charge Jamal Babu said that running multiple programs each year is expensive, and the board now plans to consolidate resources under HP. He said the squad will include around 24–25 players, combining Tigers and youth players. Instead of dividing costs across multiple groups, the board will focus on providing maximum support to this core group. This, he added, will benefit players from age-level cricket and those waiting to return to the national team. The same group will tour and play as the ‘A’ team abroad. A final decision will be announced by the board president after the New Zealand series.
According to the schedule, Bangladesh ‘A’ team will host Zimbabwe ‘A’ in June, where the new HP-based team will compete. The team will then tour South Africa in July. From August 15 to September 15, they will tour Australia, where they are set to play in the Top End T20 series along with two four-day matches. In addition, players from the HP unit are expected to take part in the Emerging Asia Cup. The busy schedule has been designed to give future stars international-level experience.
