||Desk Report||

A string of disappointing performances by Bangladesh and that heats up the debate regarding the contribution-gap between the senior and the junior set of players of the Tigers. This time, Shakib Al Hasan, too, had to face the questions on this gap and the Bangladesh ODI vice-captain was seemingly displeased about drawing such comparisons.

Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmuduallah Riyad, and Shakib himself have been the five pillars of Bangladesh national team over the past few years, with the last four of them guiding the team across all formats. According to Shakib, none of them were superheroes when they started their career and experience will play a big role in the juniors’ careers as well.

He said: “If we put so much pressure on them in so little time, the possibilities of them doing well decreases. None of the four or five of us, who you talk about, weren't any superheroes. Maybe you are looking at our careers in the last three-four years. But before that we played for six or seven more years and how well did we play really?”

Soumya Sarkar, Mustafizur Rahman, Sabbir Rahman, Mehidy Hasan were pivotal members of the team when they the big names in world cricket in different formats. Apart from Mehidy, the rest became irregular in the team and failed to make their presence felt at times due to inconsistency or injury-related problems.

With the relatively inexperienced players suffering to make an impact on the game, Bangladesh’s Asia Cup campaign has not been a pleasant one as most of the seniors have also not been able to make notable contributions; hence Shakib feels that the juniors alone should not be criticized, as such situations are challenging for everybody.