The Bangladesh team’s lacklustre play at the World Cup has raised questions about their planning and other issues, but the most important thing to learn is that the whole team isn’t as good as it should be by world standards.
In this country, the longer version has not gotten much attention, and many people think that this is what caused the problem with the quality.
In light of Bangladesh’s terrible performance in the World Cup, the sixth round of the National Cricket League (NCL), which starts on November 18, will be the start of training for the upcoming Test series against New Zealand, which is set to begin on November 28 in Sylhet.
The Tigers would need to fill in for Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, who won’t be able to play in the upcoming series. Taskin Ahmed is also not available because he hurt his shoulder and has been told to rest.
Liton Das has also asked for time off, but reports say it’s up to the board to decide if he will get it. The head of cricket affairs for the BCB, Jalal Yunus, could not be reached by phone yesterday to say anything about Liton’s readiness for the Tests.
There are different players on the Test team than on the ODI team, but many of them move between the two types of games when needed. There are players who like the longer version, but there are also players on the national team who traditionally don’t like red-ball cricket.
“Some talented but young cricketers shouldn’t be left to decide if they want to quit longer-form cricket.” “In the end, their careers can’t move forward without red-ball cricket,” an anonymous person in team management said.
Last month, Sourav Ganguly, a former captain of India, said in an interview that playing longer-form cricket, not shorter-form cricket like the IPL, is better for building skills and resistance.
Over the years, NCL’s play fees have gone up. The match fee for the winner is 1 lakh taka, the fee for the runner-up is 80,000 taka, and the fee for the two worst teams is 50,000 taka. The players’ pay are also based on how well they play. Mosaddek Hossain and other players have not yet played in this year’s NCL. Mustafizur Rahman, a pacer, has also not been very interested in first-class matches over the years.
Hasan Mahmud and Khaled Ahmed are the only pace pack players who can now play in the New Zealand series. Other players may have to step up.
Selector Habibul Bashar thinks that longer first-class is the best way to get stronger. “If you don’t play first-class cricket, you would suffer in one-day games and your cricket won’t improve and you won’t build that kind of fitness,” he stated.
Still, the last round of the NCL will be important for picking the team, and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha is likely to be at some of the games. But if bowlers don’t know how important first-class games are, the country’s cricket will keep falling behind. This will hinder the building of the team for the New Zealand series in the short term as key players will be missing.