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Harder than before

Sports Reporter
mances in domestic competitions. But now, since the youngsters are playing so well, the 'former regulars' have to play extraordinary cricket in order to make a comeback," said national selector Habibul Bashar.
There were times in the past when a mere century would be enough for a player to make it to the national playing eleven. Junaed Siddique, Nazimuddin and Shahriar Nafees are among a group of players who were repeatedly given opportunities following just-above-average performances in leagues. But over the last year or so, the players themselves have raised the standard for a comeback.
"The criteria are slightly different now. It's not that the door is closed on them. There are plenty of opportunities today with good facilities. But the level of their performance needs to be of a higher degree, since the team is so settled now," said Bashar.
While consistency and temperament have always been important factors, the aspect that the team management has put extra focus on in the recent past is fitness. Fatigue was a clear problem for the likes of Shahriar, Alok Kapali, Junaed, Aftab Ahmed and many more this year and it's an aspect that will have affect comeback plans.
While the prevailing factors have made it more difficult for comebacks, new chief selector Faruque Ahmed finds it as a welcome change. Faruque had earlier stated that new faces could be in contention in the T20 format, but he said that the longer formats were a lot more competitive.
"The entry itself is a lot difficult than before, but then that is really good for the team. That means the team's unit has done well. When there's more competition and you have a group of 20 players performing at almost the same level, we have more options to choose from," explained Faruque.
One of the joys of watching domestic cricket is to see the hunger of the out-of-favour players for reclaiming their places in the national team.
It was something that was
witnessed in the recently concluded T20 Challenge Series, where Bangladesh A completed a clean sweep against the national team.
There were quite a few sparkling performances by the 'former regulars' - as they are politely referred to these days - in this year's Dhaka Premier League, which ended last month. Former national opener Nafis Iqbal's unbeaten 150 against Prime Bank Cricket Club in September began the proceedings. The 28-year-old went on to score 430 runs in ten matches at an impressive average of 71.67. Top-order batsman Rokibul Hasan drew plenty of attention as well for his matchwinning knocks during the Super League. His unbeaten scores of 98 and 90 in crucial games helped Gazi Tank to the title.
Also in form towards the latter half of the competition was Rokibul's teammate Imrul Kayes, who with 655 runs was the second highest scorer of the meet. Allrounder Forhad Reza was also amongst those who shone, topping the wickets column in the competition.
While these performances were not extraordinary, they did depict some of these players' urge to work their way back into the national fold. While the effort has been there, national selectors point out that the discarded players will need to work a lot harder than before to make a return.
"There's a lot of competition. In the past, an out-of-form national player would be replaced by someone with decent perfor-