Bangladesh regressing to ground zero in Tests

As the dust settles on Bangladesh's 2-0 humiliation in the home Test series against Sri Lanka, the state of the country's domestic red-ball cricket has once again become a hot topic.

After getting outplayed in the first Test in Sylhet, losing by 328 runs, the Bangladesh batters again failed to deliver on a much better batting surface at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram and lost the Test by 192 runs on Wednesday.

The aftermath of Bangladesh's comprehensive defeats in both Tests has so far been quite predictable with two members of the defeated Bangladesh team directing attention at the difference in standard between the country's first-class cricket and Tests in an attempt to explain why the team's batting fell apart multiple times in the series.

First, it was Mominul Haque, who after the fourth day's play of the second Test in Chattogram, said that batting in domestic first-class matches hardly prepares him for the challenges of Test cricket.

After the end of the match, skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto also echoed that sentiment.

"Better wickets in domestic first-class will help, we don't face a lot of challenges there. I personally feel we don't get to play quality matches in first-class cricket," Shanto said after the match.

Mominul and Shanto's assessments were not without merit. The standard of cricket in the country's four-day competitions -- National Cricket League (NCL) and Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) -- have been put under the scanner many times and calls for improving wickets and playing conditions are also nothing new.

In fact, every time Bangladesh suffers humiliation in Test cricket, questions about the country's poor domestic structure get raised, current and former cricketers give their two cents on the issue and the board gives a list of things they have done to improve domestic cricket.

This uproar lasts for a few days -- usually till the Tigers get involved in another limited-overs engagement with the focus conveniently shifting to the latest thing.

This cycle has been continuing for many years in Bangladesh cricket and is giving the cricketers a convenient excuse whenever things go horribly wrong in Tests while hiding their own lack of application in the format.

"The difference in standard between our domestic cricket and Test cricket is significant. But if the players just think that as the difference of standard is really high, they can never perform in Tests, they'll never be able to perform," renowned cricket coach Nazmul Abedin Fahim told The Daily Star yesterday.

"It is the management's responsibility to reduce this difference in standard between domestic and Test cricket. But at the same time, the players also have to show that in spite of their domestic structure, they can make use of opportunities in Test cricket," he added.

In the Chattogram Test, Bangladesh batters could put up only 178 runs in the first innings after the Sri Lankans piled on 531, conceding a mammoth 353-run lead.

When the Tigers came out to bat in the second innings, they were set an improbable target of 531 with a little over five sessions left.

Winning the match seemed like an improbability and given their performance in the first innings, hopes of hanging on for a draw were also very deem.

In the second innings, however, almost all of the batters got starts with Mominul making a brisk half-century and Shakib Al Hasan and Liton Das reaching 30s.

But all three of the batters threw away their wickets before the end of the day's play and despite Mehedi Hasan Miraz's unbeaten 81, the hosts got bundled out in the morning of the fifth day and lost the match by a huge margin.

The lack of determination of the current Bangladesh batters disappointed Fahim, who gave the example of the country's first Test centurion Aminul Islam Bulbul, who hit 145 against India in Bangladesh's inaugural Test, as an example of how far determination can take a batter.

"Sadly, our current crop of players don't have the same level of determination that players from 24 years ago had. In our inaugural Test 24 years back, one of our players had played a 145-run innings with no experience. He did it out of sheer determination. [In Chattogram Test] we saw many batters getting set, but they failed to continue. Some of them got out playing loose shots. That was uncalled for. It was not just about inexperience, it was also irresponsible."