India captain Virat Kohli (2nd-L) receives the Test series winner’s trophy from BCCI president Sourav Ganguly (L) and BCB president Nazmul Hasan (2nd-R) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. — BCB photo
Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan on Monday didn’t pay any heed to India skipper Virat Kohli’s advice of focusing more on domestic cricket, by putting the blame squarely on the sub-par quality of the local pacers.
Kohli, after leading India to a convincing 2-0 clean-sweep against Bangladesh in the two-Test series, advised the BCB to give more attention to the country’s domestic first-class competitions so that the local players are encouraged to devote more time to improve their skill in the longer format.
But the BCB president didn’t agree with the Indian skipper as he felt that the lack of quality among the local players were the main reason Bangladesh’s below-par show against India.
‘What’s the point in paying more attention to domestic cricket? Right now, in domestic cricket we are preparing sporting wickets with some bounce for the pacers… But how can they learn by batting against the type of bowlers we have?’ Nazmul told reporters after being asked about Kohli’s advice to the BCB.
Bangladesh batters looked woefully out of sorts when they were put against the Indian pace-trio of Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma, as they folded below 200 in three of their four innings.
Nazmul felt that the batsmen were not used to facing such quality pacers back at home, which caused their dismal show in their first-ever two-Test series against the neighbouring nation in India.
‘Only preparing pitches won’t help us. We need high quality pacers, from who the batsmen can learn from by facing them. They have just played against world class pacers. So, we need to increase our bowling skills,’ he added.
The current president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly had also expressed his dissatisfaction at the Tigers’ performance in the day-night Test by claiming that the Bangladesh batsmen lacked commitment.
‘I think Bangladesh should have played better than this. It was a historical occasion and I think that it would have been great if they perform well,’ Sourav told a group of Bangladeshi reporters on Saturday.
Another Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavasker outright claimed that Bangladesh was an ‘ordinary team’ and their batsmen had ‘ordinary technique’ and said he felt sorry for the avid Bangladesh cricket supporters.
Nazmul, however, hinted that the BCB was planning to take steps to improve the situation but gave no clear indication of what their next course of action will be.
‘We are really making plans for it which you will see implemented in the next two-three months. We are taking long term and short term measures to counter such situations in Tests. I think it will help us improve our batting,’ Nazmul said.
Source: New Age.
