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Bangladesh cricket stuck in its old ways: Ashraful
PHOTO: BCB
SPORTS REPORTER
Four matches into Bangladesh’s campaign in the ICC ODI World Cup, the pre-tournament optimism surrounding the Tigers has all but withered away.
The defeat against India in Pune on Thursday was Bangladesh’s third straight loss, which has left them at the edge of mathematical impossibility of making it to the semifinal.
Since the victory over Afghanistan in Dharamshala in their opener, a match Bangladesh were favourites to win, the team has looked underprepared, short of plans and largely out of their depth.
The change in captaincy so close to the tournament, not having a fixed batting order and placing a bet on young players to do the job in a tournament of such magnitude indicates the lack of proper planning from the management.
Former Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful shares this sentiment as he feels that the team’s lacklustre showing is a direct result of poor planning.
“Many had expected Bangladesh to qualify for the semifinal. But we now see that the reality is quite different. Actually, the three-month chaos leading up to the World Cup unsettled the team,” Ashraful, who is in India as a traveling cricket expert for T Sports, told The Daily Star on Friday.
Bangladesh’s buildup to the World Cup got chaotic the moment Tamim Iqbal announced his shock retirement in July, which he revoked the following day, and reached its peak when the opener was left out of the World Cup squad.
Ashraful was highly critical of the way Tamim’s issue was handled by the management, and gave examples of how earlier managements had handled the temperamental opener in the past.
“Tamim has always been over-emotional. I remember, Tamim didn’t want to play in the Test against England at Lord’s in 2010 because he had a niggle or something like that. Coach Jamie Siddons put his arms over Tamim’s shoulders and convinced him to play. After that, he scored back to back centuries in the two Tests
“Even Mashrafe [Bin Mortaza] handled Tamim well and got the best out of him. But the current management completely failed to handle Tamim, which led to all this drama,” he said.
The youngest Test centurion also ridiculed the management’s decision to drop Tamim on the basis of him being not a 100 percent fit.
“All that talk about him not being fit for the World Cup was ridiculous. We are seeing how New Zealand are managing the injured Kane Williamson and England are handling Ben Stokes. The team could’ve similarly managed Tamim’s injury.”
According to Ashraful, the biggest problem for Bangladesh cricket is the backwards mentality of the players and the cricket authorities, which has left the Tigers stuck in their old ways while the rest of the World has leaped ahead.
“After getting knocked out by us in the 2015 World Cup, England have completely revolutionised batting in cricket. Since that World Cup, they have scored over 300 57 times in ODIs. Other teams are also playing the same way. But we still aim to score 270-280 even on batting pitches,” said Ashraful.
“In Bangladesh, the senior batters usually don’t want to bat higher up the order. They try to play it safe and bat at No. 5-7. I want the seniors to take more responsibility and bat higher.
“When we played our first World Cup in 1999, we aimed to win a couple of matches. 25 years later, the management still has the same goal. If we keep prioritising winning home series, we will only win an occasional match in the World Cup, we will never progress.”