Tigers depart for Oman to play T20 WC

Bangladesh cricket team left for Oman in the wee hours of Monday for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which will be played in Oman and the UAE between October 17 to November 14. 

The Mahmudullah Riyad-led squad took off from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 1:10am. 

There was uncertainty regarding the Bangladesh team's departure to Oman for their upcoming World Cup preparation camp and qualifying matches after Cyclone Shaheen bore down on Oman on Sunday. The Tigers' flight was originally set to depart at 10:45 PM on Sunday night. However, there was a delay of just above two hours. 

A 21-member contingent including 14 cricketers left for Oman as all returned negative results in Covid-19 tests. Apart from 12 cricketers from the 15-member world cup squad, pacer Rubel Hossain and leg-spinner Aminul Islam also accompanied the team for only participating in the training camp in Muscat.

Opener Liton Das went to Muscat with his wife four days back while ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and pacer Mustafizur Rahman will join the team in Abu Dhabi on October 9 after completing their IPL commitments.

Bangladesh will spend a day in room quarantine in Muscat before starting their training on October 5 in Oman, after which the Tigers will travel to Dubai to take part in two official practice games on October 12 and 14 against Sri Lanka and Ireland respectively. 

Mahmudullah and his troops will then return to Oman on October 15 to participate in the qualifier stage and will face Scotland in their first qualifier game on October 17. 

In the previous six editions of the T20 extravaganza, Bangladesh never managed to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament. However, before boarding the Oman-bound flight, skipper Mahmudullah said that his team would 'want to win as many matches as possible and break the barrier.'