Bangladesh will go to Sri Lanka without a final squad announced

Bangladesh are due to play their last two matches of the ICC Test Championship against Sri Lanka. The Tigers will fly to Sri Lanka on April 12. But the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is yet to announce the squad for the series. 

Minhajul Abedin Nannu, the chief selector of the Bangladesh national team, said that the final squad won't be announced soon. A 21-member preliminary squad will be announced before Bangladesh fly to Sri Lanka. But Minhajul didn't reveal when it will be announced. 

Bangladesh are likely to go to Sri Lanka with this preliminary squad. The final squad will be announced there. As the players didn't have enough red-ball practice, the players of the preliminary squad will play an intra-squad match and after that, the final squad will be announced. 

Bangladesh will travel with a larger squad as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) informed that it won't give any team or even net bowlers for practice purposes keeping in mind the danger of Covid-19. 

Minhajul, regarding this, said on Thursday, "We might announce the preliminary squad the day before we fly. We will announce the final squad after the practice match in Sri Lanka. Since we won't get any opponents or net bowlers, we need to have more players. The preliminary will have 21 players and the members of the final squad will be chosen after the practice match."

The two Tests will be held at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium where Bangladesh had never played a Test match. The first of the two Tests will start on April 21 with the second one beginning on April 29.