The first Test captain of Bangladesh, Naimur Rahman, said that the continued failure in Test cricket is an unwanted fate for Bangladesh.
Over the last three years, Bangladesh played 19 Tests and lost 14 of them with only three wins and two draws. In most cases, batters lost the game for the teams. They failed to impress both at home and abroad.
Recently, Bangladesh played a home series against Sri Lanka and ended up losing by 1-0. The Tigers also lost the first match of the two-match Test series against West Indies in Antigua despite being more experienced than the hosts.
In the second Test against Sri Lanka and first against West Indies, six Bangladeshi batters failed to score anything. Along the process, Bangladesh became the first team in history to suffer six ducks in consecutive Tests.
“Compared to our time, players get more facilities now,” Naimur said. “In that sense, it’s unfortunate that we are not being able to earn the result we deserve. As a nation, as the board, organizers or spectators, everyone wants to do well in the shorter format of the game.”
As of the first Test in the ongoing series against the West Indies, Bangladesh played 133 Tests and won only 16 of them. Naimur believes the situation is the result of Bangladesh’s lesser attention to the longer format of cricket.
“Test is the main cricket,” Naimur said. “It’s been years since we got the Test status. So we have to do well now. I think if we don’t concentrate on the longer version of cricket on the domestic circuit, we won’t be able to do well.”
In the first Test of the ongoing series in the West Indies, Bangladesh were tumbled for 103 in the first innings with six batters failing to score anything. Shakib Al Hasan, the newly-appointed Test captain was the only batter to have scored runs— the fifties in both innings.
After the first match, Shakib slammed the batters for their failure to take up the responsibilities. He said it would be easy for him to axe the players if the poor cricket continues from them.
The second Test of this series will take place on June 24. After the two-match Test series, both the teams will take on each other in a three-match ODI and two-match T20I series.
Source: United News of Bangladesh