DHAKA: Team Tigers had mixed success of late. The Under-19 team had all the potential to win the T20 World Cup. But it failed to go beyond semi-final stage losing to ultimate winners West Indies Under-19 team. Experts opined that opting to bat on a misty winter morning in seaming condition against pace heavy West Indies team was a strategic error.

The senior tigers did admirably well in qualifying for the final of the Asia Cup beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan. But it lost to India without making much contest. ICC T20 World Cup also witnessed Bangladesh storming into main round despite getting hamstring from suspension of key bowlers, Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny. But in the main round it lost all four matches. First match against Pakistan and the last one against New Zealand were one sided. Bangladesh could compete against Australia and lost the easiest of opportunities of upsetting India.

If one looks back in retrospect one may find strategic errors ranging from too much experimentation and ignoring horses for the courses. Persisting with bits and pieces players and ignoring tried and tested players was among the reasons for below par performance of Bangladesh team. The body language of some players was not ideal.

Some media reports during and after the T20 world cup created some confusions and controversies. Taskin and Arafat were reported for suspect bowling actions during the qualifying round. Their tests were hurriedly taken and both were suspended for indefinite period. Bangladesh mission T20 world cup was badly hurt.

Two standby players were sent and directly drafted into the side ignoring Nasir Hossain, an integral part of Bangladesh team in not too distant past. Saqlain Sajib was sent in place of Arafat Sunny and bits and pieces all-rounder Shuvagata Hom for pacer Taskin Ahmed. The omission of Nasir from playing eleven was hotly debated. Questions were raised about his selection in the main squad if he was not good enough to play in important matches. When Nasir was not being given opportunity against visiting Zimbabwean team during their pre-Asia Cup T20 series it was told that Nasir is tried and tested integral part of T20 squad. But what wrong happened with him in between remains a mystery.

There is a three-member selection committee, headed by Ex-Bangladesh Captain Farookh Ahmed. Two other members of the committee are ex-national captains Minhazul Abedin Nannu and Habibul Bashar Sumon. They are tasked to select national sqauds. The team is announced after approval of BCB President. We are not much informed about Cricket credentials of BCB President, either as player or organizer. Team manager Khaled Mahmud Sujon, head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and Captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza select playing eleven.

We had information from reliable sources that head coach and team manager had serious disagreements in the past over the management of the team. BCB President intercepted and always favored head coach. Situation soured to such level that head coach reportedly did not care to ignore Director (Cricket Operations) ex-National Captain and Member of the parliament Naimur Rahman Durjoy. This led to Durjoy swapping responsibility with another director Akram Khan.

Now there are gossips that the contract of Chandika Hathurusingha is getting extended. He will have more influence as he would have additional responsibility as a selector and the position of chief selector may be changed. All these may happen as head coach with the blessings of BCB president enjoys more than deserving authorities unheard of in any international team of any country. It is to be seen whether the gossips have any truth behind these.

Enigmatic captain Mashrafe is nearing end of his unparalleled career. His bruised and battered body may not sustain the rigors of international cricket too long. No one can at all deny his charismatic inspiring leadership that revolutionized Team Tigers performance in limited over version cricket. He changed the body language of the entire team, inspired every cricketer to know their ability first and then commit all for the team. Under his dynamic leadership Bangladesh turned as major force in the world cricket. Every player new or established feels his presence in the team as leader and mentor. It will be a huge challenge for future leaders to keep the success going.

How Bangladesh Changed?

It goes without saying that emergence of a good crop of quality young cricketers like Sabbir, Soumya, Taskin, Al-Amin and Mustafiz over the last year or so and maturing of top cricketers like Mashrafe, Tamim, Shakib, Mushfique, Mahmudullah and Rubel and others has made Bangladesh a highly competitive team in the limited over versions of the game. Frequent international exposure has also helped a great deal. But very little domestic cricket and poor domestic structure have also created concerns of achieving sustaining success over longer terms.

Top players like Tamim, Shakib, Mashrafe, Mushfique, and Mahmudullah will not continue forever. There are not many quality cricketers in the pipeline to replace them. The Under-19 team has three four quality teenagers who need care and attention and opportunities to grow under the shadow of seniors.

We cannot say Mominul Haque, Liton Das and Jubair Hossain have been handled professionally. Mominul has sound technique and great temperament. Too many experiments with him may have dampened his morale a bit. Liton is an aggressive batsman and good wicket keeper. He must be groomed properly. Jubair is a quality leg spinner. He is being treated very poorly. Quality leg spinners are match winners in every format. Bangladesh must groom Jubair appropriately. He is being neglected even in local cricket.

Mustafiz, Al-Amin will serve Bangladesh for a while. But Taskin and Rubel are injury prone. Bangladesh must produce hard bouncy, grassy wickets which will assist these brilliant pacers grow. A good pace attack will assist Bangladesh a great deal in winning matches in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The leading pacers must be cared and nursed judiciously. They must not be over worked. Heath Streak is great mentor of pacers.

Bangladesh is losing edge in spin bowling. Shakib badly needs a quality partner. He is an attacking left arm spinner. He needs another attacking spinner who can bowl with him in tandem. The team can engage a spinning coach. There can be a spin bowlers hunt like pacers hunt. Bangladesh must have credible system for checking and monitoring bowlers’ actions to avoid embarrassment in future. Why BCB cannot have an ICC approved testing facility in Bangladesh?

Cricket Administration Needs Quality Personalities

Bangladesh is no longer a minnow in world cricket. It is now competing on equal terms with top teams of the world. Our cricket administration cannot be run with politically favored persons having dodgy cricket past. At the same time, top cricketers do not always make good administrator. It is often blamed that BCB officials are least bothered about local cricket. They are keener about BPL-type controversial money spinning events and international cricket.

Bangladesh remains at the rock bottom in test cricket. Still little attention is paid in the longer version of the game. BCL can only start in late April with early monsoon threatening games. Club cricket and regional cricket have very poor management for lack of sponsorship. Huge money spent on BPL for organizing iffy cricket but very little money is spent on BCL type cricket which can be ideal breeding ground of local cricket.

BCB has evil influence of a ill motivated group who benefits from cricket rather than contributing. They managed to find ways into BCB somehow and do not have real commitment for sustainable success of Cricket in Bangladesh. That is why local cricket, including age-group cricket, regional cricket, school cricket and cricket in districts are rarely being organized properly.

BCB now needs cricket administrators of proven past track records and commitment. Cricket needs leaders with vision who can plan for short, medium and long term future.

If this does not happen the recently found success may not sustain. Bangladesh may again return to losing cycle in not too distant future.

BCB Top Management Must Not Entertain Politics of Other Games.

Reports appeared in Bangladesh media about disgruntled football organizers meeting with BCB top administration about interfering with the election process of BFF. This is not fair and proper professional attitude for top administration of any game interfering with the business of another game. There are lots of issues of cricket itself. It will be better leaving football to footballers and football administrators.

We hope Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is a true lover of Bangladesh Cricket, will understand the requirement of a democratically elected body for BCB to run the business. Bangladesh needs huge improvement in local cricket formats and longer version of the game. A good test team requires 100 quality players for representing green and red like roaring Royal Bengal.

BDST: 0927 HRS, APR 09, 2016
SR