Bangladesh retain Test status but face embarrassment

For Bangladesh's Test cricket, January 30 was a day of unbelievable contrasts. It was the day when the arrogant move of India, Australia and England (IAE) to rob the country of its Test-playing status failed in the ICC  (International Cricket Council meeting) in Dubai.
It was also the day when Bangladesh's Test team suffered a humiliating innings defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan team. Thus that day on the TV screen, people watched the BCB President being garlanded so heavily as to fall over at the Dhaka airport on his return from Dubai. At the same time, the Bangladesh Test cricketers did their best to prove that the move of the IAE was not entirely unreasonable and that our Test team lacks what it needs to play Test cricket.
Nevertheless, it is excellent news for Test cricket in particular and cricket in general in Bangladesh that the BCB delegation came back with the country's Test status intact. However, the contrast between the BCB President in his broadest smile at the Dhaka airport and the Bangladesh Test team showing spineless cricketing ability. It is something upon which those who decide upon cricket in the country and those who love the game and want it to flourish should be spending serious time to ensure that Bangladesh's cricket is able to use the new lease of life it has been given by the ICC to a good purpose.
Clearly there are still huge problems in the Test team, its good performance in a couple of recent Test series and the potentials of its cricketers notwithstanding. The team took to the field in the Test against Sri Lanka in full knowledge of the IAE move. There should have been a clear understanding among the players individually and collectively that the Test was not just any Test; it was special, one in which they would need to prove a point and expose the conspiracy against them. The team's management and the players should also have been on the same wavelength on the issue. Most importantly, the BCB should also have talked with the team and its management and ensured that they understood the significance of the first Test.
Unfortunately, the way the Bangladesh Test team played the Test match, there was no way to believe that either the cricketers, or the management or for that matter the BCB in anyway understood the significance of the Test. Take for instance the choice of Shamsur Rahman for the match as an opener. He went out and began playing his debut Test like it was a 20/20 match. Before he went out, he should have been clearly instructed to play a Test innings and not a T20 one. When he continued to play that way, there was no effort from the dressing room to send him instruction to shape up. The same was true of Tamim Iqbal. In fact, in the second innings of the match when Bangladesh was facing a 498 runs deficit and the team had just 30 minutes for close of play, he danced down and tried to loft Herath out of the ground and lost his wicket in a most ugly and irresponsible fashion! That was not expected at all and for that, the player should be made to stand down in the next Test and the team management reprimanded for failing to imbibe in the cricketer simple common sense requirements for playing a Test match. Mind you, this was not the first time; he has shown such irresponsibility in Test cricket.
The same was true of Momin, Saquib, Nasir and Sohag who all played T20 style cricket. In fact, they all seemed to play as if they were anxious to end Bangladesh's Test status. For the brief moments they stayed at the wicket. These players showed their potentials but the way they played revealed clearly that they were playing to please themselves. They showed the absence of one of the basics of Test batting. They showed almost no knowledge of playing to defend. They did not also show they understood that the Test cricket is played over 5 days where while batting; the need is to play from session to session. They also seemed to believe that there is no need to settle down when arriving at the wicket to bat and they can see the cricket ball as big as a football the moment they arrive to bat. Those who coach them should give them the video tapes of the way the great Jayawardene and Sangakara batted to get into their thick but inflated skulls the point that in Test cricket, balls are to be hit on merit and patience to wait for the bad ball is of the essence of Test batting.
There are major problems that must be sorted out with all the stakeholders on the same wavelength. This includes not just the cricketers, the management, and the Board but also those who talk and write about cricket in the media. Clearly, the first three are on different wavelengths while those who talk and write about sometimes manifest almost no knowledge of cricket and write from emotions and fantasies. Take for instance a former Test captain who was giving 'expert' view after the second day's play with SL on 375/5 and already with a lead of over 145 runs. This 'expert' was suggesting that on the 3rd morning, Bangladesh would wrap up the SL innings quickly and then score enough runs to have a good chance of winning!! This was fantasy at its wildest limit but unfortunately it is not just this former Test captain who has such wild dreams. There are many like him around to make our Test cricketers believe they are all superstars who can achieve miracles at will. Only, after 81 Tests, they have not even come close by a long distance to achieving such a miracle like beating a major Test team so far.
The potentials of a few of our Test players notwithstanding, the only way for Bangladesh to prove it is a team worthy of playing Test is for its players to show common sense. They should be told that their achievements as revealed in statistics are average. Take for instance Shakib's rating as Test cricket's best all-rounder. This rating is based upon a points system where as Test cricket's number 10 Test playing team, Shakib's gets enhanced points for wickets he takes or runs he scores, like the handicap system in golf gives to weaker players.  Otherwise, why would Shakib be rated ahead of Jacque Kallis as an all rounder? The gap in cricketing merit between the two is like that between a Ph.D. and a high school kid based on their respective achievements.
Now that we are in no danger of losing our Test status, it is time to take some serious decisions for the future of Test cricket in Bangladesh. To start with, Imrul Qayes should replace Tamim Iqbal in the Chittagong Test. That would instil some sense in the cricketer that by his records, he is just an average cricketer. Since Bangladesh is likely to lose with or without him, it is time to bring him down to earth! Batsmen henceforth should be evaluated by the length they are able to spend at the crease and punished even if they score runs in the T20 style. If the team fails to last a day while batting, they should be punished collectively, perhaps financially.
Then there is of course the big issue of the team's bowling ability. The 700 plus scored by SL proved that on a good wicket, Bangladesh just has no bowling ability to bowl out a Test team in the top 8 twice in a Test match. On top of all, the team should be forced to realise except a couple of talented batsmen, the team is nothing more than an amalgam of unproven talent and mediocrity. Perhaps, until all these issues are addressed, Bangladesh may even consider a self-exile from Test cricket so that it can return again when its cricketers, the management and the Board understand what Test cricket really is. But then who will bell the cat?
The writer is a retired career Ambassador.
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