Bangladesh primed for fitness challenge

With Bangladesh set to host international matches for the first time in July and August, the packed schedule will challenge players to cope with the sustained fitness demands of a long season and an unpredictable climate.

Bangladesh have had hectic seasons before - there have been five previous instances when the team has played more than 30 international games in a year - but 2015 has been a particularly intense year for the side.

After completing the highly competitive Dhaka Premier League in early January, they went straight into World Cup build-up, first at home and then in Brisbane. They played four practice matches before making it to their first knockout stage match in the World Cup, after more than four weeks of intense scrutiny, travel and cricket.

The post-World Cup phase comprised the Bangladesh Cricket League one-day tournament, the Pakistan series and a draining series against India, which was capped off by an exhilarating maiden ODI series victory. They now have to prepare for an equally formidable adversary in South Africa.

Despite the scenario, Mario Villavarayan, Bangladesh's strength and conditioning coach, believes the players are well prepared for the workload and have made strides in the awareness required to take care of themselves.

"Most of the preparation has been done," Villavarayan said. "Now it is about maintaining [fitness] and topping it up whenever time permits. In between series there's hardly any time. During times like the rain-interrupted Fatullah Test, we got chance to work on the players. When they don't have too much workload on certain days, we top it up in the gym or some running or cycling.

"It is a challenge for anybody, for that matter, in Sri Lanka or India. We have got to learn to play in those conditions. We have trained when it was hot. These guys played the BCL game [in late May] in hot weather."

The team has pulled through a gruelling season well despite a string of injuries. Tamim Iqbal said before the India series that he had to remove a malignant tumor in his knee while Shakib Al Hasan is reportedly playing with an injured finger. Mushfiqur Rahim has recovered from a finger injury while Mahmudullah is on the mend after a fracture to the left index finger. Taskin Ahmed, too, is likely to be ruled out of the South Africa series with a left side tear.

In spite of the injuries, Villavarayan believes the bigger picture is looking better for Bangladesh. When he joined last year with head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, the perception was that the players were not keen on fitness. Within a few months though, Villavarayan saw an example of the Bangladesh players' commitment in trying circumstances.

"When I was coming here, I was given this impression that guys are not that keen on fitness," Villavarayan said. "The biggest thing that hit me was that last year in July during Ramadan, we were doing running sessions at 3.30 pm in the afternoon.

"These boys were fasting but they were running and pushing themselves. Those first few weeks proved I was given a wrong impression about the boys. From that point they have gone on well."

Villavarayan also said he has seen progress in attitudes and training habits of players, particularly in their commitment to fitness during the time spent away from the team.

"A month ago I said that I have seen improvement in their attitude and training habits. That's within one year," he said." If they keep going on the same track, we will see progress. They can't change quickly. It is slow progress. From what I have seen over the last year, it has improved a lot.

"I look after them here. When they go home, they have to look after themselves. That is what I have seen improved. They get into good habits and they are doing it at home. It is the main thing. This is the professionalism coming in. If they are not going to do it when I am not around, they are not going to help themselves."

Villavarayan now has to ensure that the team can face its toughest period without too many fitness issues. The series against South Africa is the last one before a break in August and September.

"We did our fitness testing before the India series. I have given them individual targets," he said. "If I have seen a weak area, we work on those. We can't make massive fitness improvements in between these two series. We need to keep topping up on the weak areas and maintaining the good areas."