||  CF Correspondent ||

Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan, Test match specialist spinners of Bangladesh team are unhappy to miss to play a string of scheduled Test matches this year owing to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.

Bangladesh were scheduled to play 9 Tests in the next 10 months from April, 2020 to January, 2021, the bulk of the games which were all as a part of the ICC World Test Championship.

Of them, four were slated to take place at home yards against Australia in June and as many as Tests against New Zealand in July. The Tigers are slated to tour to Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series, while one was left against Pakistan. Test against Pakistan formally postponed indefinitely. Tests against Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka have virtually been postponed not to recede the threat of the coronavirus.

Moreover, they were scheduled to play a one-off Test against Ireland but that was postponed by Cricket Ireland (IC) many days before the coronavirus epidemic.

Taijul who is at the mid-point of his cricketing career, was disheartened more than Nayeem to lose out this important period of his career.

“I have played only 29 Tests so far. I was really eager to play some more Tests so that I can end up my career with a good statistics,” said Taijul Islam.

“Wheel of time goes forward, not backward. I’m getting older; my fitness level is dropping gradually and performance will also fall down,” Taijul told leading English daily from Natore over mobile phone.

“Maybe the matches which are postponed due to a pandemic situation will be drafted into the schedule in future, but I don’t know if at that time I will be fit to play or will my performance take me into the team or not,” he added.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has increased match fees of Tk 6 lakh in Test. Being branded as a Test specialist, Taijul is regretting not getting that money.

He said if he could have played all those matches, it would be better for him because he got so much money into his pocket.  

“This year match fee has increased to Tk 6 lakh for Test. If I could play all the Checks, that would have meant Tk 54 lakh, which is a big amount for me,” Taijul said.

However, young off-spinner Nayeem Hasan is disappointed for not being able to carry his golden runs with the ball due to the forced stoppage caused by the novel virus pandemic.

“I was in a very good flow. In the last three matches [one Test and two Bangladesh Cricket League matches] I took 30 wickets. My fitness was also good. But corona put a sudden break on that run,” Nayeem Hasan said.

But he said that he was not too anxious about his future and saw this break as an opportunity to be better prepared.

“Allah does everything for the greater welfare. I’m not feeling very good by passing idle times but it could be an opportunity for better preparation. I think every player will lose a year from their playing lives,” the young off-spinner said.