& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Say no to 'positives'

Sports Reporter
If you were a face-reader you could have easily understood what distress Mohammad Ashraful had just been through. When the Bangladesh skipper emerged from the meeting with top board members at the BCB's Gulshan office yesterday, the 24-year-old wore a look he never before did, even after his team hit lower from lows.
And as he started to talk with the waiting reporters it seemed that the long discussion with three board members - Gazi Ashraf Hossain, Shafiqur Rahman Munna and Ahmed Sajjadul Alam - suddenly changed his philosophy, which is obviously looking for positives even when there is none, regarding their recent wretched performance.
"The board arranged the meeting after this Pakistan series as they are very much worried about our recent poor performances. And undoubtedly our performance was not good in the last couple of series;" explained Ashraful, who was trying hard to check his emotion. The Tigers skipper took time when asked whether he still believed that they had played competitive cricket in Pakistan to gain some positives even in a 5-0 whitewash.
"We may have some individual achievements in the series but no doubt as a team our performance was not up to any mark. But we have to play cricket with a positive frame of mind." Ashraful contradicted with his earlier comments when he, upon arrival at the Zia International Airport from Pakistan, said, "We played competitive cricket."
Ashraful however was quick to come up with an excuse when he said that lack of experience was the reason behind the dismal performance.
"I played more than hundred one-day internationals and good number of Test matches, but you have to consider the age while talking about experience. I believe we can reach a standard if the current crop of players play together for a period of time," he said.
The explanation of Ashraf, chairman of the cricket operations committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), however made it clear
why the Bangladesh captain stopped beating the drum of 'positives'.
"We watched the performance onTV screen that's why we have had the idea about their approach on the field. We made one thing clear that we totally disagreed with their explanation and observations about their poor showing," said Ashraf.
The former national skipper also explained why they sat with the national players. The cricket operations committee met individually with the captain and vice-captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and then had a meeting with the rest of the players as a group.
"This kind of meeting was first since we have taken the responsibility. What we felt is that there was a need for interactions between players and the officials to find a way. We just cannot sit over a disaster after another, rather we have to motivate them by taking necessary actions," said Ashraf.
"I don't believe we can take comfort after putting on only 200 runs on the board. We are not in a stage to think like that," he said when asked whether it was a management decision to find positives even from a worst possible performance.
The board's.hard line approach will continue as Ashraf said that they would not be happy with the same explanation when they meet with the players in the next time.
"We are not ready to hear the same old explanations any more," he warned.
Then is it financial punishment that awaits Mohammad Ashraful's men in near future? "It's still an idea but if someone get bonus for good performance then why the same will not face pay cut because of his bad performance. It's a simple logic," was the response of Ashraf.