Former national skipper Naimur Rahman on Wednesday criticized Bangladeshi players for having a mentality of giving the excuse for ‘wickets’ after every defeat as he revealed that the home wickets are only made after getting the instructions from the team management.
After conceding a shocking five-wicket defeat to USA in the three-match T20I series opener on Tuesday, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto claimed that due to their not playing on good wickets against Zimbabwe on home soil, their batters were still struggling on the field.
“We didn’t play on good wickets in Zimbabwe, so the batters are struggling. But it is a mental thing and the batters can come back,” Najmul said during the post-match presentation interview after the match.
Najmul’s words couldn’t satisfy Naimur, the current BCB director and chairman of the BCB’s HP Committee, as he insisted that the national team isn’t a place to give such excuses as it is a place for only performance.
Bangladesh’s highest total during the five-match series against Zimbabwe was 165-5 which they scored in the third match of the series in Chattogram and despite winning the series by a 4-1 margin, the batting approach of their batters was questionable.
On Tuesday, the Tigers demonstrated a repeat performance which they did against Zimbabwe (scored 153-5) but this time, they weren’t as lucky as they were against Zimbabwe as the hosts embarrassed them in their first meeting against the sub-continental side.
“If we made slow wickets (on home soil), it was done as per the requirements of the team management. Every team takes advantage of their home conditions and it is done after getting proposals from the team,” Naimur told reporters in Mirpur.
“The team always gives us their requirements after understanding their situation and they demand suitable wickets where they can perform. So we can’t agree on their excuses if they blame the wickets.
“National team is the place for performance. We can’t give excuses for wickets there. We have gone to perform there and whatever the situation is, we have to perform,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gazi Ashraf Hossain, convenor of the national selection panel, admitted that the performance of the Tigers in the series opener against USA was disappointing and they needed to solve the issues soon as the ICC T20 World Cup is just one week away.
“Any kind of defeat is a matter of grief. We are currently going through a phase of preparation for the World Cup. Obviously, it’s a bit disappointing and there is no doubt about it,” he said.
“If the team loses but still the team-wise and depart-wise performance is good, we can still find positivity from it. But we had some expectations but it didn’t click so it’s obviously a matter of great concern from my point of view.
“It’s obviously a disappointing start. But let’s hope for the best. If we can get back our form to the right place, I will be really happy. We have to solve our problems soon as we don’t have too much time before the World Cup,” he concluded.
