When most accusing fingers for the Bangladesh cricket team's recent debacle in Zimbabwe are pointed at the structure and management of cricket in the country, chief selector Akram Khan believes that the players have to improve individually to avoid such embarrassments.
The former national captain also said, while talking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday, that the problem lies not with the skill of the players, but that the mindset is the biggest problem, causing the players' failure to apply themselves properly during the just-concluded tour where the Tigers lost both the one-off Test and three-match one-day series.
When asked about whether there has been any problem in the process for the shameful defeat, Akram said: “From my position it's not possible to make any controversial comments but what I can say is that the players should individually improve themselves and they have to have their own plan. You can't expect that you always get everything as per your desire.
“Obviously we have to improve our standards but my observation is that this team has the capability to perform much better than they did on this tour. I think the application was wrong. There have been questions raised about the lack of preparation. No doubt the preparation could have been much better though the weather was a big factor, but still I believe they should have played better with the preparation they had,” he continued.
The popular opinion was that the better team won the series especially after the way the new-look Zimbabwe team showed their character on their return to Test cricket after a six-year gap, but Akram was not ready to go with that sentiment.
“They (Zimbabwe) didn't play any extraordinary cricket in this series; rather we made mistakes which helped them to take the series. I still believe that we are the better side. Actually, the situation was not in our favour at all if you considered it from the preparation to the first practice match.
“You might point out the lack of preparation and inconsistency of the batsmen behind the failure but I think the players also lost their confidence after they lost the three-day practice match. You know our confidence level always fluctuates. Another thing is that we hoped that the players would be able to adjust to the conditions but ultimately they failed to do that,” he explained.
He also said that one can't only blame the infrastructure for the embarrassing defeats because the existing facilities are much better than in Zimbabwe.“We could not play the series as a unit, so they have to think about what is best for the team and the players' body language should be more positive on the field,” observed Akram.
The chief selector also dismissed the notion that there was a feud within the team. “People start to create negative things when you fail to perform and you have to accept it. Nobody raised questions with the last two games because we won the matches,” opined Akram.
He also highly praised captain Shakib Al Hasan and said that he firmly believes that the young Bangladesh captain needs more time to grow up as a captain.“Nobody is hundred percent right. I think Shakib improved a lot as a captain and he will improve more if we give him time. It's also our responsibility, those of us in management positions, to bring out the best from the players. But my opinion is that Shakib must increase his activities,” said Akram.
The boss of the three-member selection panel found no reason to bring changes in the team. “We believe the best team toured Zimbabwe and we have confidence in the boys because they proved earlier that they could play good cricket,” said a confident Akram.
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