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Will BCB’s World Cup ‘discussions’ make any difference?
ABDULLAH AL MEHDI
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is set to sit down for a board meeting today to discuss the just-concluded T20 World Cup performances. Such meetings, however, have barely contributed to an improved show in global events.
Apart from World Cup performances, which are routine discussions following ICC or other major events, BCB will also discuss the appointment of an international contractor for a new stadium alongside other matters.
“There is also a standard procedure that after the Bangladesh team returns from playing any major ICC or ACC event, the performances are discussed,” BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters yesterday regarding the meeting.
“It’s a routine matter and there are also financial matters to discuss regarding the structure of Game Development and Ground and Facilities. Mainly those are the areas that are to be prioritized,” he added.
The board remains content that the Tigers were able to make it to the second round of the tournament, the Super Eight stage, beating Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Netherlands to secure their berth from a tough group. However, the Super Eights revealed the gap in quality the team has with the big sides in mega events.
Bangladesh did not show the approach required to take the attack to the stronger teams at the tournament, failing miserably against Australia and India before falling to Afghanistan in their final game, with the fragile batting sticking out like a sore thumb.
Such performances may be scrutinized and discussed internally. BCB, however, has not been able to ensure those investigations bore fruit. In 2021, after the debacle in the T20 World Cup in Oman and UAE, the BCB formed a fact-finding committee to interview players and officials. Just like that tournament, the 2024 T20 World Cup has also brought into question the state of cricket in the country.
Back then, BCB president Nazmul Hassan had said that the committee found nothing significant. He, in fact, had remarked, “What can you do if the players say there’s nothing wrong with the coach?”
It showed that there is a need to find scapegoats because perhaps the then coach Russell Domingo was not to their liking. Nazmul had then curiously suggested that he would conduct an investigation personally, but no further information came out regarding the findings.
The 2023 ODI World Cup debacle will be remembered not only for poor performances but also because another investigation committee was formed, which interviewed many players and officials, but the findings were once again not made public. The result was null. In fact, BCB directors had also told this newspaper that they have not seen the investigation report.
There is a general notion that BCB may not get to the bottom of the batting debacle, or what caused the charges of coach Chandika Hathurusingha to prematurely give up on semifinals dream during the Afghanistan match for it might ruffle a few feathers of its own.
First and foremost, BCB must initiate some soul-searching to reflect and accept its own wrongdoings in forming a necessary pipeline, as evidence by the dearth of options in the Tigers’ squad -- carrying an off-form batter in Afif Hossain as a travelling reserve -- in USA and West Indies around the past month.
As another discussion follows on performances, will BCB this time be relieved with having made the second stage, or will they form another probe committee just for the sake of it?
If the matters at hand related to performance are not discussed freely by the directors, ultimately, the seeds of success for the next world event will not be sown.