PHOTO: FIROZ AHMED

BISHWAJIT ROY

We all hope the year 2024 will be a better one for Bangladesh sports.

Despite some brilliant wins, notable individual performances in the country’s two major sports---cricket and football-- we had an average 2023, which also marked another year of seeing other sports gradually disappearing from the limelight.

At the onset of a new year full of fresh opportunities, all of us must look forward to the future but not with the same mindset of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon.

The BCB boss had told the reporters on December 9 after the defeat against New Zealand in the Mirpur Test that ‘those who are interested to stay in the past, let them do that…. we will move forward.’

He said that as he was apparently no longer interested to speak about Bangladesh’s World Cup debacle and the progress of the inquiry committee, which was formed by the board to find out the reasons behind the dismal show.

The Tigers’ Test victory against New Zealand in Sylhet helped Papon find his voice after remaining uncharacteristically silent following the World Cup.

The historic ODI and T20I wins in New Zealand in December will surely further bolster his confidence in the New Year.

History, however, tells us that sporadic successes hardly bring any long-term and sustainable progress in our sports, whether it is cricket, football or some other discipline.

In Bangladesh, following every success or disaster in sports leaves us puzzled about how to go about identifying the problems.

A dismal showing compels us to think that our players don’t have the ability to go far. We even love to compare with other countries who have fewer facilities than us but are performing well in big events.

On the other hand, a brilliant performance bolsters our confidence, compels us to claim that we have the talent but a lack of proper management and long-term vision are impeding our progress and are keeping us from consistently achieving better results.

In cricket, the most pathetic thing to happen last year was not the disastrous showing in the World Cup but the board’s reluctance in finding out the reasons behind the debacle, actively trying to sweep it under the rug and move forward without examining the faults.

In football, there were some rays of hope but questions remain whether the few sporadic successes will bring any changes in the country’s football without the existence of a professional football structure.

In other sports, there was hardly any hope. The outcome in the Asian Games once again showed that we have surrendered to the fact of being little more than mere spectators in global events as we hardly have any goals or have undertaken any long-term measures to make a mark.

In a gloomy year in Bangladesh cricket, the Nigar Sultana-led women’s cricket team deserves its flowers for gifting the country with a number of historic victories. After an underwhelming 2023, can we hope for a better 2024 in sports? Yes, we can, but only if the necessary changes are made at the management level.