There was certainly a sense of relief in the air on Tuesday among the cricketers currently based in Chattogram at the moment involved in the camps of Bangladesh Tigers and High-Performance Unit.

The cricketers of the camps were back at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium after being escorted by the law enforcement agencies to complete their training sessions that was halted for almost a week, six days to be precise, as they were locked at the hotel due to political unrest countrywide.

It was not the first time that cricketers were locked at the hotel room, considering it was the only way out for them to continue their game during the time of pandemic Covid-19. 

However, if not anything else this time around it was even more difficult for them passing their leisure time in the hotel room as they were completely out of touch from the world due to no-access to internet which is their only tool in times of crisis.

“Not only as a player, it’s difficult for any human being to pass this kind of time,” Bangladesh middle-order batsman Afif Hossain told reporters after completing the practice that was disrupted couple of times due to rain on this day.

“I hope we don’t have to go through these situations in the future,” he said indicating that they are tired of suffering due to the present crisis in the country that forced the government to impose country wide curfew.

Afif, the former BKSP student, insisted that it was like going back to the old days when there was no internet access and people’s only mode of communication was chatting among each other instead of spending most of the time looking at the screens of their mobile as the world seems to be at finger tips, courtesy their access to internet.

“It’s like going back in time when there was no internet and we can’t go outside either,” said Afif pointing his fingers toward his time in the hostel of the only sports institute of the country.

“So most of the time we used to hangout and chat which doesn’t usually happen (these days) if you have internet and we used to chat and hangout after breakfast or at the night,” he said adding that he is happy to be back in the middle and more importantly having some runs under his belt as he prepares to lead Bangladesh A team in the 50-over format tri-series involving Pakistan Shaheens and Northern Territory, scheduled to start from 1 August.

Afif scored a century in the 50-over practice game between Bangladesh A team and High Performance Unit while made 35 in the other T20 game played between two teams.

“It is really important to stay on the wicket in practice matches because if you are not on the wicket you won’t be able to take full advantage of the practice,” he said.

“Everyone feels good when they score runs. And I wasn’t playing matches for a long time, so after scoring runs considering I have played after a long time, it felt really good and the preparation was also really good,” he added. “So I was able to stay on the wicket and it feels good to have scored runs, and I am hopeful to contribute in similar manner in the upcoming matches for my team,” he said adding that he would prefer to bat somewhere that can give him time in the middle unlike being considered as a finisher, a tag given by the national team management that he is finding hard to abolish.

“I always prefer to take time while playing. I find it easier to play when I take time,” he said and in a manner that seemed it was a breath of fresh air for him as well, taking everything into consideration.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) official said on Tuesday that some of the national team members like skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and others are expected to join the Bangladesh Tigers camp soon. “From today curfew has been relaxed and after learning about it we communicated with those who were in Chattogram, after discussing with them and after they gave us reassurance, we have resumed training from today (Tuesday),” said BCB’s cricket operation chairman Jalal Yunus.

“We have decided to send the national players staying in Dhaka really soon and we will try to send them there (Chattogram) within two or three days,” he said adding that they are eyeing to complete the camp for the two-match Test series against Pakistan, scheduled from 21 August. “We want to play the practice game scheduled from 29 July while there is time we also want to play a two-day game,” he added.