Bangladeshi cricketers are being sent to boot camp to toughen up ahead of the Twenty20 world championships.'This is the first time the cricket team is undergoing such prestigious training. The aim is to make them mentally and physically strong,' cricket board spokesman Rabeed Imam said.
The week-long course takes place next week at the elite warfare wing of the army infantry and tactics school in a remote northeastern area, he said.
The cricketers were 'excited' about it ahead of the world championship in South Africa starting September 11, he claimed.
The training has been organised just a week after the government dissolved the executive committee of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and named an influential general as the new president.
Major-general Sina Ibne Jamali, the chief of general staff, is the first serving general to head the BCB.
Last month army chief General Moeen U Ahmed was appointed to lead the country's sports regulating authority and he pledged to clean up politics-ridden sports federations.
The military is widely seen as orchestrating events since January when a state of emergency was imposed in Bangladesh and elections were cancelled after months of political turmoil.
An army-backed government has taken over and launched a nationwide crackdown on corruption in which some 150 top politicians, including a former prime minister, have been arrested.