Sports desk: Bangladesh cricket team returns home from England via Dubai after the conclusion of their successful 53-day-long tours in tri-nation series in Ireland and ICC Champions Trophy in United of Kingdom (UK) today. Following the end of the semifinal match that they lost to India by comprehensive nine wickets at Edgbaston, the Tigers left Birmingham for Dubai by a flight of Emirates Airlines at local time 9:40pm (BST 2:40am) on Thursday.
They are scheduled to reach at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 9:45am on Saturday following a four-hour transit delay in Dubai. This time none of the coaching staffs come with the team. Head coach Chandika Hathurusingha will go straight to Australia to meet with his family and assistant coach-cum- fielding coach Richard Halsall will stay at England. Bangladesh batting consultant Thilan Samaraweera and strength & conditioning coach Mario Villavarayen will go back to Sri Lanka, while fast bowling coach Courtney Walsh to Jamaica. They all will join the team during their preparation camp that will kickstart on July 10 for the next home series against Australia.
Earlier, Bangladesh took off for London on April 26 to hold a 10-day-long training camp before flying for Dublin to play the triangular series, in where they became runners-up beating New Zealand.
Therefore, they once again backed to London to play the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Of course, Tigers played two practice matches against Asian giants-Pakistan on May 27 and India on May 31 before starting their Champions Trophy mission against the hosts England on June 1.
Following the drubbing to England by eight wickets, the Tigers shared the spoils with the top notch team Australia. Thereafter, they qualified for the semifinal for the first-ever time thrashing New Zealand on June 9 by five wickets. In semi-final, Tigers’ high hopes to cruise to the summit clash of the Champions Trophy were shattered by India, who won the high-octane match in dominating vein by comprehensive nine wickets.
