“Players are mentally preparing themselves for the Test series: Najmul”

As Bangladesh enters the two-match Test series against Zimbabwe after the ongoing Dhaka Premier League, the nation’s Dhaka-club centred list A event, captain Najmul Hossain thinks his teammates won’t have any trouble switching formats.

After finishing the tournament’s final round of the first phase, Bangladeshi cricket players, who are currently playing in the ongoing DPL, are expected to go to Sylhet on April 12.

At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, archrivals Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club will square off. A number of national cricket players are anticipated to travel by evening flight to Sylhet, where the first Test is set to begin on April 20.

“The players are making their long-awaited comeback to Test cricket. At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday, Najmul, who is guiding DPL table toppers Abahani Limited, told reporters, “I do think that having two or three extra days for preparation would have benefited us.”

“There’s always a lot of expectation around this fixture (Abahani and MSC) and it’s definitely a very important game but the players selected for the national team are already mentally tuning themselves to how they want to approach the Test series,” he stated.

“If you consider both the Test series and the DPL derby, they are equally significant. “I’m hoping that the time we’ll have in Sylhet will be enough for final preparations, and the players are handling both well and preparing appropriately,” he said.

In addition, Najmul stated that he is not taking anything for granted when playing lower-ranked Zimbabwe since he believes that playing international cricket, whether against lower-ranked South Africa or Australia, will always put pressure on players.

“Every game, whether it is played in South Africa, Australia, or Zimbabwe, should be viewed as an international game. Our Test cricket will develop further in this way. International cricket is seldom without its difficulties, and this series will be no exception,” he stated.

“Fighting a large or small team isn’t the point. It’s how well we play that counts. We won four Test matches last year, demonstrating an improvement in our performance. Our goal is to build on that progress as we have six more Tests this year,” he stated.

“No team is small, and the mentality and pressure we have when playing against elite teams will be the same here (against Zimbabwe).” Our players aren’t thinking in those terms either, as I’ve stated time and time again,” he remarked.