Bangladesh have their backs against the wall following a poor display in the shortest format of the game and they will be desperate to gain something positive from the two-match Test series against Pakistan, starting from today at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, to dissipate the gloom surrounding Bangladesh cricket.

There has been hardly anything positive associated with the Tigers in recent times and against such a backdrop, many can recall memories of 2004, especially now that the Tigers are in the port city in search of a positive vibe.

The entire scenario may not be the same, but at that time cricket fans in the country wept while the rest of the world ridiculed our cricket and our players. Suddenly, a young batter burst onto the scene with a spectacular unbeaten 158 against visiting India and showed what they were capable of if they played to their potential.

Will anyone from Mominul Haque's side be able to revive a similarly sweet memory when they play the first Test against a formidable Pakistan?

"There are some similarities to what happened 17 years ago. It seemed that everything was ugly in our cricket then. Times have changed and now our expectations are totally different from 2004. But what is still missing in our cricket… I believe excitement and a classy innings or showing fighting spirit can change the whole complexion," said none other than Mohammad Ashraful, who single-handedly earned respect for his country with that magical three-figure innings.

"We have some exciting talents. Especially when I saw the Under-19 players in the first-class competition, I was just amazed. We have a player like Liton [Das], who has the ability to change the whole scenario [of a game]. I am still searching for an answer about why selectors dropped him from the T20 squad. Whatever the popular sentiment is, the team management should understand that players like Liton and Soumya [Sarkar] are assets for the team and we should create an environment for them to express themselves," he continued.

After 17 years, Ashraful, however, wanted to focus on the bigger picture.

"Pakistan are a very strong team but still we may make some mark on the Test series. It will not solve our problems because we are still lagging behind in providing good platforms that our talented young players could use to prepare themselves for bigger challenges. There is a young wicketkeeper-batter, Pritom Kumar from Rajshahi Division, and he is an exciting talent. His backlift is like KL Rahul's. I even told Sumon bhai (selector Habibul Bashar) to take care of him. But again, will our system give him the opportunity to flourish?"

Ashraful pointed out that another perennial problem facing Bangladesh cricket takes a back seat in the face of international assignments.

"Although we expect a good showing in Test cricket against a team like Pakistan, hardly anybody noticed that we just completed one of our first-class competitions on very poor wickets where one cannot expect young talents flourish. Just think, it was hard to even raise the ball above ankle height in the first over and Sumon bhai also saw how poor the wickets were," the Barishal Division batter said.

"The irony is that we are still crying for good performances from the national team and also crying for good domestic competitions like we did in 15 to 20 years back. Individual brilliance may not solve anything," he added.

Ashraful's description may substantiated by the fact that even batter Mohammad Mithun became a 'deadly bowler' during his spell of 20.5-2-75-7.

So, whatever happens in Chattogram or Mirpur, we might still be left crying for a proper cricketing structure.