World Cup: Need to properly groom available talent, says Bangladesh cricketer Ashraful
PUNE: Bangladesh and big events don’t go well. They would push limits, cause an upset here and there, but come the clutch moment, they would falter. The farthest they have gone in an ODI World Cup was in 2015 — Bangladesh eliminated England to enter the quarterfinals where they lost to India. In the 2019 edition, they finished eighth in the table.
As for the ongoing edition, Bangladesh started their campaign with a win before losing two on the trot. On Thursday — against India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune — too, they failed to capitalise on the start the openers gave. In the absence of captain Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh openers Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan Tamim scored fifties, taking the team to 93 in 14.3 overs before the latter got out. From thereon, Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They managed to reach 256/8 thanks to Mahmudullah's 36-ball 46.
What ails them when it comes to the big stage such as the World Cup? At the U19 level, they are a dominant force. They even won the 2020 U19 World Cup. However, the gap between the age-group level and senior team is something they struggle to bridge. Bangladesh cricketer Mohammad Ashraful feels that it's not happening because of the way players are pushed up the ladder early. “We have talent. But you can’t just see the talent and pick for senior international cricket, you need performers. Those who perform well, and have talent, you have to see both,” Ashraful said in a select media interaction. “A player is talented but if he is not performing and you are thrusting him into international cricket then he would fail, right? The processing is wrong,” adds Ashraful, who is playing domestic cricket in Bangladesh and club cricket in England.
There seems to be a pattern to the point Ashraful is trying to make. In the current World Cup squad at least five — Tanzim Hasan Sakib (2020 and 2022), Towhid Hridoy (2018 & 2020), Shoriful Islam (2018), Tanzid Hasan Tamim (2018) and Hasan Mahmud (2020) — are from the last three U19 World Cup batches. Ashraful feels that the players have to go through the grind with U21, U23 and A-teams before making the step up to the national side. “They take you to international cricket directly. That is the problem. One or two players you can bring, the ones who are very talented, but you can’t keep doing it. That is what is happening,” says Ashraful, who is in India as a commentator.
The former Bangladesh captain also explains the pressure the youngsters face in this day and age with social media. “Now, life has become tough for everyone after the rise of social media. The news gets out in a minute. It was not like that when we were playing. We woke up and read newspapers and saw TV at 8 PM for news. Now, you have everything you want on your mobile. So, it has become difficult. If you don’t understand the situation, you can’t say anything and the people who work are not looking at it,” he said.
For them to make a larger impact and develop consistency, they might want to look at long-term planning and develop a core group of players who would serve them well.