When will the Cubs take responsibility?

There have been numerous examples of Bangladesh cricketers scoring heavily and taking truckloads of wickets in domestic and age-level cricket but finding it extremely difficult to cope with the pressure of international cricket. Lack of consistency is something that has hurt Bangladesh cricket for years and even after almost two and a half decades after securing the Test status, the case is more or less the same.

Apart from a few exceptions like Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, most of the country's cricketers have taken a long time to cement their place in the national team. Many are still struggling to find their feet even after playing international cricket for nearly a decade. The likes of Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman have fizzled out after showing immense promise. 

In global tournaments, the veterans are still Bangladesh's go-to players. In the recently-concluded World Cup, 37-year-old Mahmudullah was their best batter with 328 runs at 54.66. Apart from him, none of the batters could average more than 32 and Bangladesh finished the tournament with just two wins. 

Why do the youngsters keep failing even after a fair amount of international exposure? The Business Standard (TBS) has tried to find the answer by speaking to two experienced local coaches - Sarwar Imran and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim. They feel the glaring difference of quality between domestic and international cricket is one of the main reasons.

Imran, who was Bangladesh's head coach for their debut Test match, said, "Players grow by playing domestic cricket. The quality of our domestic cricket is very low, so is the quality of umpiring. We know how it is run. Selectors decide who will play where. 200 is not easily scored in even four-day matches. These issues have to be sorted."

"After the U-19 level, Indian cricketers play U-20 cricket for a couple of years. They play hundreds of longer-version matches and one-dayers during this period. But here, players make the national team straight after playing U-19 cricket. In India or Australia, the quality of domestic cricket is close to that of international cricket. But that's not the case in Bangladesh. So players take three-four years to settle down in international cricket," he added.

"The base is not strong. We have camps in Bogura, players play intra-squad matches, that's all. When we did not have money, we used to send U-19 teams, High Performance (HP) teams to tours. In 2004-05, the HP team toured Australia and England, the U-19 team visited Sri Lanka. But why don't these happen now? We have enough money," said Imran.

BKSP's former cricket advisor Fahim feels the cricketers are responsible for their below-par performance as well. "For a student, a lot depends on the standard of the school. If you attend a school with tough competition, challenges will appear. I think the cricketers have the responsibility of upgrading themselves. It's important how big their dreams are and how hard they can try to achieve them," he said.

Fahim cited the example of Mahmudullah while describing how a cricketer should prepare himself. "Before the World Cup, Mahmudullah was away from [international] cricket for six months. But now, he is playing his best cricket. He is timing and middling the ball like never before. He is a different player now and that has been possible because he had decided to try and up his game," he explained. 

The experienced coach reckons the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has not been able to create an environment where cricketers can dream of making it big.

"For many, playing for the national team is the ultimate dream. But in reality, it is just the start. We are satisfied too early and that's the problem. The management has to make the cricketers dream and provide them with good enough facilities. They have to create the environment. If two out of 10 players have the dream of making it big, it's great. It's important how big their dreams are," he concluded.