It is an encouraging development that Bangladeshi girls are playing various sports in defiance of social pressure and the recent, amazing success story of female age-level  footballers has been the most glittering example of a budding women's revolution in sport. The female presence has also been felt in the country's most popular sport, cricket. However, when any sport is played on the international stage, mere participation cannot be a source of glory; instead a team has to demonstrate standard, ability and progress at the highest level. How has Bangladesh women's cricket fared in the face of this reality?

Since making their international debut against Thailand in July 2007 and gaining ODI status in 2011, the Bangladesh women's team has hardly showed any signs of going towards the right direction. The question arises not just because they have just completed a terrible tour of South Africa where they were whitewashed in both the ODI and T20I series, but because their overall performance has not been encouraging.

Many have cast doubts about the ability of female cricketers -- most of whom have braved myriad difficulties in establishing a tradition of women's cricket in Bangladesh -- who have been playing for a long time without any significant improvements, and those in charge love to say that there are not enough female cricketers who can replace them. Sometimes it is also said that a lack of interest among the female cricketers has made things difficult.

Recently, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB's) women's cricket wing development manager Nazmul Abedin Fahim also identified the lack of interest and blamed a poor financial structure as reasons for the female cricketers lagging far behind the men at a time when their counterparts in other countries are progressing by leaps and bounds in terms of skill and fitness, both physical and mental.

"Ever since I have been closely working with them, I felt that the situation is not very encouraging for girls to take the sport up as a profession. Only a few cricketers have been given central contracts and for the rest, there is no scope to earn money, which is why parents are not eager to encourage their daughters to play cricket. Therefore, it's important to look at this issue," Fahim observed.

Interestingly however, local coaches working closely with female cricketers at the grassroots levels to feed the national side do not subscribe to the notion that there a lack of interest among female cricketers is to blame; instead they have identified the lack of long-term planning and proper policies behind the slow progress of female cricketers in the country.

 "It's not a lack of interest from female cricketers but a lack of interest from the high-ups in the cricket board that has stopped women's cricket from achieving a good standard. I have been working with female cricketers for long and Khulna is a hub of female cricketers, as well as Rajshahi, Rangpur and Bogra. There is a lot of interest among girls but there is no proper structure in place," said Khulna coach Imtiaz Hossain, popularly known as Pilu.

 "The board has to take feedback from the grassroots level if they want to improve the standard. The District Sports Council currently has no role, no facilities, no grounds and no security and safety measures. The financial issue is a big issue but I think at this moment the main problem lies in the lack of proper planning and sincerity. Just tell me what was the role of Athar Ali Khan as [women's] selector? Did he follow the women's cricket? No doubt he is a respected figure in our country but I have serious doubts about his knowledge of female cricketers. This is just one example about the negligence and how things are going," he continued.

Mohammad Muslemuddin, a coach in Bogra, echoed Imtiaz's view that far from a lack of interest, many have been showing interest in becoming a cricketer. He identified some positives in the current scenario.

"I am not frustrated because it was not long ago that we began our international journey. Yes, we failed to achieve the desired standard but the board are taking initiatives. From my personal experience I can say that there is huge interest but the problem is that we cannot give them a proper platform. We need a long-term policy and must look to other regions to spot some new talents. I also request the board to look into the financial situation. And look, it would not be a big deal for the board to arrange month-long training camps under the BCB Academy for the upcoming players," said Muslemuddin.

"Many female cricketers come but soon lose their interest when they saw no facilities," he added.

So, it is not just a matter of hiring foreign coaches off and on; instead there needs to be concerted effort to improve the standard of women's cricket in the country.