SAMSUL AREFIN KHAN

Bangladesh’s early exit from the ICC U-19 World Cup was sealed after a lacklustre performance against England in their opening Super Sixes fixture on Monday. While inconsistent performance and miscalculations during rain-affected fixtures played a major role, officials have also criticised the team’s heavy travel schedule, which they deemed as “unfair”.

“More than the approach, I think our calculations were lacking [against England and India]. But this [travel schedule] is something I want to highlight, even if people think I’m making excuses,” game development coordinator Habibul Bashar told The Daily Star yesterday.

The Junior Tigers left for Zimbabwe on January 6 for the 16th edition of the tournament and were required to play their two warm-up matches at different venues -- Masvingo and Harare -- against Pakistan and Scotland on January 10 and 13 respectively. Masvingo is nearly a four-hour drive from Harare, meaning the team had to travel back and forth within a short span.

This year, the ICC prohibited domestic air travel during the tournament, requiring teams, officials, and staff to move by bus.

The long journeys did not end there. Bangladesh travelled from Harare to Bulawayo – a nearly nine-hour bus ride during monsoon season -- for their opening Group B matches on January 17 and 20. Considering the importance of the fixtures, the BCB arranged and funded an internal flight on their own for the matches against India and New Zealand.

“To avoid the boys getting too tired before the India match, the BCB actually paid for an internal flight out of its own pocket because the bus journey was too long and direct flights were scarce,” Bashar informed.

After those games, Bangladesh returned to Harare by bus for their match against the USA on January 23 before heading back to Bulawayo again by bus for the Super Six clash against England on January 26. Following that match, the team once again travelled to Harare to prepare for their final game against hosts Zimbabwe on January 31.

It is understood that both players and team management repeatedly expressed frustration over the hectic schedule. Even head coach Naveed Nawaz appeared worn down by the constant travel. When contacted on Tuesday while the team was en route from Bulawayo to Harare, he replied briefly: “Nine hours in the bus.”

India, meanwhile, stayed in Bulawayo for all their matches and practice games. Similarly, several major teams had far lighter travel burdens.

Australia played all their warm-up and group matches in Windhoek, Namibia, travelling to Harare only for their final Super Six fixture against the West Indies. England played their warm-ups in Harare and Bulawayo but had all their group matches in Harare, with a four-day gap before their Super Six games in Bulawayo.

Pakistan also played their group matches and opening Super Six fixture in Harare and will only travel to Bulawayo for their final Super Six match against India.

“The schedule was very unfair to us,” Bashar said. “During the initial schedule, we were supposed to play two of our warm-up matches in Masvingo and travel to Bulawayo, which is a four-hour drive, for our opening two group-stages matches. Later, they [ICC] suddenly changed the schedule, and it meant we had to play two of our warm-up games at different venues, travelling back and forth.

“We notified them [of the travel burden] before the tournament started. We asked them to move our practice games to avoid the back-and-forth travel, but they didn’t listen. Once the tournament starts, you can’t really change these things.”

As Bashar’s account highlights, the contrast between Bangladesh’s burden and the lighter schedules of other teams draws attention to long-standing concerns over tournament planning -- a debate the ICC may now find impossible to ignore.