Editorial
Our cricket and our shame
We demand accountability from the BCB
Bangladesh has crashed out of the World Twenty20 in Nottingham. It was wiped out by a resolute Ireland, raising questions about what could have contributed to Bangladesh's embarrassment. The answers to those questions, as far as we are concerned, are not difficult to find. A defeat as shameful as the one our cricketers have just earned for themselves appears to have become the norm for our cricket. Where this particular match against Ireland is concerned, the sheer cavalier manner in which our players carried themselves during the course of the game makes us wonder if they were at all serious about what they were doing. Not a bit of worry seemed to be there and no hint came of a need for a change in strategy once the wickets began to fall rapidly.
We think the time has come for some hard thinking to be done about our cricket. And part of that thinking must be a swift departure of the captain. The defeat with Ireland has exposed Ashraful's weakness and incompetence as the captain of the national team. Not only has he demonstrated glaring shortcomings in strategizing the game but his own poor, irresponsible batting has also been setting the tone for the match. It appeared as though the Bangladesh team was waiting for a miracle to lift it out of the morass when what was needed was a considered, judicious approach to batting. In other words, the Ashraful captaincy has been symbolic of a glaring absence of leadership in the national team. Making such realities worse is the impression that the captain has not been listening to or has been ignoring the coach. Which brings us to the very important question of the role of the coach in training our cricketers to tackle reputed teams from around the world. Obviously, huge chunks of money have gone into pampering the players and in maintaining the coach. It is time for the Bangladesh Cricket Board to come clean about the depressing nature of our cricket. We as a nation now demand accountability from our cricket circles.
Let us take our cricket seriously. Occasionally the national team has won games at the international level and has even felled some giants. However, where bringing the team to an acceptable, credible and sustained standard is concerned, there is yet a very long way to go. That is what the embarrassing defeat against Ireland has proved once again.
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