Mashrafe urges seniors to guide youngsters in instructor-less Bangladesh conditioning camp

Bangladesh limited-overs captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza wants the seniors to help young players in the fitness camp, which kicked off without the conditioning instructor.

The preliminary squad for the England series began their conditioning on Wednesday morning.

The national team's Sri Lankan trainer, Mario Villavarayan, who went on a vacation, was supposed to return ahead of the camp. But a militant attack on a Gulshan restaurant earlier this month upset his schedule.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is expecting him back with Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha and spin coach Ruwan Kalpage, who are supposed to return in the first week of August.

Local trainer Iftekharul Islam has taken the responsibility of supervising the Tigers' camp.

An instructor’s absence creates scope for slackness among the players but Mashrafe wants them to fully concentrate on their training, and not to worry about the trainer.

"It's true that we are not accustomed (to training) without Mario. He is with us for a long time. He has been given all the instructions," Mashrafe said.

"But all the players know their part. They know they have to do their own thing. It should not be that we will push ourselves only when Mario is here.

"We will lose fitness if we leave a gap of a month or a month and a half. This is a great opportunity to learn how to take care of ourselves and how to maintain our fitness."

This is where Mashrafe sees a role for the seniors to inspire the youngsters in the team.

"The seniors have a role to play here. We have Mushfiqur [Rahim], [Mahmudullah] Riyad, Tamim [Iqbal]. The seniors who have made their way back - Shahriar Nafeez, Raqibul [Hasan] - are all fit.

"I think the youths can follow their guidelines."