BCB to hold psychology sessions for cricketers

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) arranged a boot camp for the players in Sylhet Cantonment in 2007 to improve their fitness. The 'military' training helped the players up their fitness level big time. The BCB is once again going to seek help from the military but this time it will involve 'psychological training'.

The board is planning to hold a few psychology sessions headed by psychologists from the Inter Services Selection Board (ISSB). A session was supposed to be held during the Sri Lanka series but it didn't happen. But at least two sessions will take place before the team flies to the Caribbean for a full series, said Jalal Yunus, chairman of BCB's cricket operations department. 

After the fourth day of the recently concluded Mirpur Test, Shakib Al Hasan said that not physical strength or skill, the main problem of the Bangladesh cricketers is 'mental'. The BCB is now set to work on that aspect too.

"We have already had a discussion with the ISSB in detail," said the BCB director. "We planned to hold a session on 20 May after the Chattogram Test. But because of the unbearable heat, the players needed a bit more time to recover. That's why it didn't happen."

Bangladesh will leave for the Caribbean on 5 July. Before that, two sessions will be held. "We have planned to hold two sessions before the West Indies tour. The psychologists will speak to the players, individual sessions will be conducted if required. Some of the players are away. We will fix the time after speaking to them," Yunus said.

The psychologists have already been provided with the profiles of the players. Team director Khaled Mahmud and BCB's chief physician Dr. Debashish Chowdhury had a meeting with them. The ISSB psychologists know all of the players very well.

"ISSB has some great psychologists," Jalal Yunus stated. They study a lot about the psychology of the cadets before selection. Apart from that, they know a lot about the players as well."