‘We talk a lot of nonsense’ – Aminul Islam Bulbul
While his stats might not put him among the legends of the sport, he is certainly regarded as one for Bangladesh cricket. Aminul Islam Bulbul was the first player to score a Test century while representing Bangladesh.
Currently, the former Bangladesh star is working in Australia as the regional development manager for the International Cricket Council. In an interview with Cricbuzz, he spoke in depth about the lacking of the Tigers.
“Working at Cricket Australia's ICC office also helped me to improve my knowledge and after implementing ICC strategy to different countries, I can clearly see where we are lacking and where we are doing well.
“Actually what I feel is that at present our cricket is limited to the [what happens in the] Mirpur Stadium, the national and Under-19 team as they play in the World Cup, and major emphasis remains in Dhaka Premier League and BPL. But I am sorry to say that we don't seem to look beyond it despite there being a huge potential that can help us grow as a real cricket force.
There was a time football was very popular, but due to lack of proper planning it had gone downwards and I just hope that cricket does not have to bear the same fate.”
He was then asked about whether he regrets not working in Bangladesh and bestowing his knowledge to the local talents, to which he responded in a manner that suggested that it is more due to the negligence of the Bangladesh Cricket Board than his own personal decision.
“More than regret, I am disappointed that I could not contribute because we had literally sacrificed our youth for this game. I could have been a good footballer and there were possibilities of turning out to be a bright student or a successful businessman, but I chose to be cricketer.
“But it is regretful that I can't exchange my experience with next generation. I try to look at it in a professional way and all I can say is that I cannot change our political or educational system but I can contribute a bit for our cricket.”
The Bangladesh cricket team might have grown a lot in the recent years, but Aminul Islam stated that the lack of vision may be hindering the team’s ability to come back on track after a series of failures. He lamented the lack of plan B within the system.
“No doubt that our brand value across the world was really rising on good pace since the 2015 World Cup, but at the same time our recent failure has also played an impact to take us in the opposite direction, and at the end we are now at a very crucial stage.
“In cricket you need some sort of sustainability, and to achieve it, you need to have some sort of plan and vision that can be divided by long term, short-term and mid-term goal. I had closely watched that it is in place for Cricket Australia while teams like India and South Africa are also moving in the same direction.
“After they play really bad in one or two series, they return to normalcy. For us it is difficult because we don't have any back-up plan.”
After the departure of Chandika Hathurusingha, Mushfiqur Rahim was removed from the captaincy of Test cricket with Shakib Al Hasan taking reins. According to Aminul Islam, however, this might have been a poor decision due to the fact that Mushfiqur was slowly getting used to the captaincy in Tests and opting to leave him out might also have an effect on his batting.
Do you feel removing Mushfiqur as Test skipper was a good example considering he was removed for failing to keep his emotions under control in front of the media?
“I don't think it is very tactical and strategic move. We were earning some success in Test and it implies Mushfiqur began to understand the players' psychology and started making his calls according to situation with his available resources.
“[Former] Coach Hathurusingha understood who will be able to deliver for earning success in the longer format and both of them played their part to do well to win in Sri Lanka. When the coach left, it was not wise on cricketing terms to remove Mushfiqur because someone who had learnt how to deal with cricketers in longer formats was required.
“I see we blame Mushfiqur to be defensive captain, but we fail to remember he defeated Australia inside three days and that is impossible to earn for a defensive captain. Apart from that, taking away his captaincy and keeping can have a negative impact on his batting and it can be really hard for us to bear. We should have dealt [with] it in such a way that his batting is not disturbed.”
Finally, he slammed the reaction from the masses and the media after Bangladesh lose or win a series. He claimed that the over-zealous nature of the reactions often let the doubts creep in within the team.
We talk lot of nonsense after losing one or two series and it does not really help apart from allowing self doubts to creep in, among the players and the team management. We must understand that there is no point going overboard after a win or two as it is their job to do well. It is also applied for the foreign coaches as well because they are here to bring success with the available resources and there is nothing to get carried away. We are playing cricket for quite sometime and we are capable if we are given a proper plan to follow to ensure success. Winning against Australia and England are prime example of the fact."
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