The Bangladesh players were doing a bit of shopping in Westfield, a popular shopping mall in Christchurch, yesterday. But nobody was interested in expensive purchases. Sabbir Rahman led one group while Mahmudullah Riyad trooped the other in a last-minute attempt to buy something for their near ones before their long trip back home.
Bangladesh team will take an early morning flight from Christchurch to Auckland today from where coach Chandika Hathurusingha will head to his home in Sydney. The rest of the team members including bowling coach Courtney Walsh will be travelling to Dhaka via Singapore. It will be a long flight back home for the players. They will leave Christchurch at 9:00am and are expected to reach Dhaka at 10:40pm tonight.
However, the flight schedule could have been a bit easier for them had they flown straight from Christchurch to Singapore. It could have saved them from the hassle of an unnecessary domestic flight from Christchurch to Auckland, which is not only time consuming but also troublesome with all the luggage the team is carrying with them.
The Bangladesh coach is expected to join the team in Dhaka before they depart for the one-off Test against India starting in Hyderabad on February 9.
Meanwhile, while talking to this reporter the coach said that it needs only ’10 minutes’ to select the team for Bangladesh’s maiden Test in India. He said he was actually waiting on the update status of the three injured players — skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, opener imrul Kayes and number three batsman Mominul Haque.
