The miserable performance of the Bangladesh team against South Africa clearly showed how fragile Bangladesh is in this format. Bangladesh is still 'infant' in this format even though they sometimes win against tough opponents. Nazmul Hossain Shantor's team got all out twice in one day in familiar ground, familiar conditions. Former captain Mohammad Ashraful blames the entire system of Test cricket for the failure of the Bangladesh team. According to him, everything from the selection process to the thinking of the cricketers, the coaching panel and the appointment of the coaches – everything is flawed. It is only possible to do well in Test cricket if these things improve.
After getting Test status in 2000, the Bangladesh team has played 148 Tests, winning 21 matches. Of which most of the wins were against weak Zimbabwe. Even Bangladesh had to lose their first appearance against the new test member Afghanistan. The Bangladesh team is more inconsistent in Test cricket than the other two formats. Despite a good performance in one match, Bangladesh loses badly in another match. Something like that has become a regular occurrence. The quality of domestic cricket, the lack of Test culture, questions about the quality of batting coaches, one incident after another off the field, naturally took its toll. But more importantly, the lack of 'application' among the batters was evident.
Ashraful sees the uncomfortable atmosphere in the dressing room as one of the reasons for the recent failures. Former head coach of Bangladesh Chandika Hathurusinghe has been in regular news for the past few months. The Shakib issue was almost daily. Rumors about captain Shanto before the Chittagong Test. Some of these make the atmosphere in the dressing room uncomfortable. Ashraful was asked if he thinks the recent absence of Shakib and the more discussion on the Hathurusinghe-Shanth issue has had any impact.
Ashraful said, Shakib's absence was not that important. He was not doing very well in the last one-two years. But the regular news is that these are the problems. Before every match there is news about Shakib, or news about Shantar's captaincy. Or news about Hathrusingha. They are not comfortable for the dressing room. It's a big problem when you discuss off-field issues before a match without thinking about the game. I think this played a major role in the poor performance on the field. If the atmosphere in the dressing room is not good, it is difficult to get positive results.'
Ashraful also brought forward the structural problems of the election process and domestic cricket behind the failure of Shantos. According to him, 'Look at the first class cricket going on. No one has seen! Our number of voters is also less. Only three selectors. With a national team. Two go to two venues. The remaining two venues remain empty. I saw 9 bowlers bowling in a match. Why would that be? You have taken 5 expert bowlers, you will bowl with them, they can learn even by hitting. These are the things we have done in our time. But we were wrong. If I still make the same mistake. This is the fault of the coaches and the management.
Although the bowlers or fielders of the Bangladesh team are somewhat consistent, the condition of the batsmen is the worst. David Hamp is working as the batting coach of the national team. Although he worked as New Zealand's batting coach for a while, he is not a well-known face. There are also questions about his role as a coach. But Ashraful sees the responsibility of the local coaches here.
This former captain thinks that Bangladesh batters cannot learn anything under the supervision of local coaches in domestic cricket, 'Unfortunately, the previous board did not evaluate the former cricketers of the national team, this board is not doing it either! Bangladeshi batsmen will do well only when those who have played Tests are included in various places including the national team coaching panel. Many see many as the best coaches, but none of them have played Test cricket. As a result, they teach batters how to do things. They themselves know what to deal with in any situation in Test cricket. Earlier we used to work with a general coach. But if you still stay at that standard, then nothing will happen. Improvement will require good quality coaches everywhere, from age group cricket to national teams, including former Test cricketers who are interested in coaching. I think people like Javed Omar, Khaled Masood Pilot, Rajin Saleh, Habibul Bashar Sumon who have played Tests, if they come to coaching, then there will be improvement.'
Ashraful also gave an example. Mahidul Islam was given his Test debut. He also got a drawing century in the first round. But he fell into the sea when he got off the field. He feels that cricketers are not improving because of the role of local coaches.
Besides, the former captain also took a hand in the selection process, 'How did you get this drawing century? If you get a century playing against eight bowlers, it remains to be seen how much that century is worth. We need to fix the selection process. You brought the drawing for a match. His average is 50 or 60! You're debuting someone with just 30 runs in first-class cricket? There are so many lumps in our system. 24 years have been the same, nothing has changed. We need to change the system everywhere.'
Ashraful said about that system, 'You have to bring change everywhere. The way the selection process is conducted should be more transparent. You drop one in a hurry, you don't drop one in a hurry. Good coaches should be appointed everywhere. Former cricketers should be given importance. Resetting the entire system of cricket boards can only do good. Media also has a role to play here. Positive things from everyone are really only possible as expected performance.'
Various boards constituted inquiry committees to investigate the cause of failure. The Bangladesh Cricket Board made an inquiry committee at various times, but the report did not see the light of day. The report on the failure of the ODI World Cup held in India is yet to come out. As a result, there is no benefit in reporting the investigation in that sense. Ashraful also thinks that rather than reporting the investigation, it is possible to solve the problem by discussing with former Test cricketers and making use of their experiences at all levels. Everyone knows why this is happening. In almost every match we lose 5/6 wickets at the beginning. Of course, it is important to work on why this is happening. I think it is not bad to sit with those who are in the new cricket board, those who have played Test cricket. Apart from this, cricketers who are not on the board like Pilot Bhai (Khaled Masood), Sujan Bhai (Khaled Mahmood), Javed Bhai (Omar), Rajin Saleh who struggled and played Tests, scored runs can be taken into consideration. I am sure good output will come from here.'
