BCB's continuous 'inconsistency' mantra
Pic: Cricfrenzy.com
|| Desk Report ||
The unexpected inclusion of opening batsmen Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar in the national squad for the remainder of the ongoing Asia Cup looks to be yet another whimsical decision taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) recently.
The decision is a clear reflection of the interference made by the BCB high-ups that largely forced the selection panel’s independence to be compromised more often than not.
According to BCB insiders, the decision that was taken before Bangladesh completed their first Super Four match against India in Dubai on Friday. Once the team got bundled out for a meagre 173 runs, the BCB high-ups were apparently annoyed by the poor batting display of the team, especially by some junior batsmen, who failed in the previous game against Afghanistan as well.
What was annoying is the fact that the BCB high-ups did not bother to consult the issue with the chief selector Minhajul Abedin despite he was present in Dubai as part of team management.
Moreover, they were apparently providing a wrong impression to the youngster who is yet to establish a strong foothold in the international circuit, by maintain a chopping-and-slashing theory.
Prior to the Asia Cup, the Tigers’ bowling coach Courtney Walsh expressed his dissatisfaction over the selection theory as he was closely monitoring the prevailing system while being the interim-head coach during the series against Afghanistan and Nidahas Trophy.
“There is a lot of youngsters coming through. If they don't get selected to play, you won't know what they are. It is one of the things we have to look at a little bit more. We can't be too afraid to give the youngsters a chance to express themselves a bit more. If they are kept waiting in the wings, they will never get a chance to play,” Walsh told reporters at BCB on September 8.
“The more you play the best chance you will get to learn. You will get more experience by playing in the middle. Sometimes you have to throw these youngsters in the deep to see what they are made of. But if you keep protecting them and say they are not ready, they might never get ready. Sometimes you have to expose talent, you have to give them a chance,” he added.
The words cannot be termed truer considering what has happened recently in the ongoing Asia Cup as far as this inconsistency in selection panel is considered, if at all there is a selection panel in place apart from being mere spectators.
The young group of Bangladeshi batsman, comprising Liton Das, Nazmul Hossain, Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain, failed in both the games that the Tigers lost respectively against Afghanistan and India.
But their twin failure and the successive heavy defeats could hardly justify BCB’s decision to recall Imrul and Soumya from a warm-up match in Khulna to the Asia Cup in the UAE.
It was more important for Bangladesh to follow the process than some other teams as they had several spots still unsettled with the World Cup not too far away.
Therefore, it was also important for the team management to back their players - who they believed would be part of their World Cup team- irrespective of how they had performed in the tournament.
It’s understandable that Liton, Nazmul, Mithun, Mosaddek could not fulfill the expectations of BCB officials but that did not make them a bad player overnight and Bangladesh also could not afford the luxury of completely abandoning them.
Bangladesh’s current group of senior players has gone through this phase before they established them in international cricket.
Except for Mashrafee, the other members of widely regarded Fabulous Five – Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mahmudllah Riyad – made their international debut around 2005-06 seasons.
But it took them three to four years before they finally could show their promise and it was not until World Cup 2015 they could perform at that level consistently.
It is unlikely for the BCB to give its young group of players this much time to deliver. But at the same it is also unfortunate for the board to lose the patience on them so quickly.
“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, were heroes before,” Sakib said ahead of the match against Afghanistan in the Super Four.
“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? People learn after going through certain situations moment and then do well. Maybe we aren’t being able to give them that opportunity.
“We’re not getting that time as well. In such situations it is also tough for them to perform well,” he added.
The explanation of Bangladesh’s cricket poster boy is something BCB need to consider with utmost importance if they want to make a proper guideline for the World Cup as that is the ultimate goal for every nation participating in the Asia Cup. To make that happen co-ordination is the primary criteria that needs to be made, unlike what happened at the post-match press conference after the loss against India. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza looked to be dumbfounded after being informed about the inclusion of the duo to bolster their batting strength.
