An ‘inevitable collapse’

Abysmal failure in all three departments -- batting, bowling and especially fielding – has come to the fore more vividly than ever during Bangladesh's recently-concluded New Zealand tour. Bangladesh were whitewashed in both T20Is and ODIs. And the thumping losses were only a reflection of Bangladesh's failure as a unit.

The recent tour to New Zealand only saw the Kiwis extend their home winning streak to 32-0 across formats against the Tigers. And according to former national skipper Aminul Islam, such dire plight of Bangladesh cricket was inevitable.

"This was inevitable. The main reason is lack of honesty. The way domestic cricket has been criminalised in the last few years, was just waiting for when the collapse was going to take place," wrote a seemingly aggrieved Aminul on his personal Facebook page yesterday.

"A team within a team. The Big five versus the rest. From what can be ascertained from people's words, the rest of the players seem like second-class citizens. Everyone is running after individual stars, leaving the team aside. Can't find the Bangladesh team," the status added.

When Aminul, who now lives in Melbourne, Australia, was contacted over phone by The Daily Star for an elaboration on such a reaction, all that came up was nothing new but still horrifying and nerve-wracking for the future of Bangladesh cricket.

"There needs to be a certain type of trust surrounding a player that he can advance his career if he plays well [in domestic cricket]. But that does not happen. Rather we hear that there are certain clubs who win a game even before the match gets underway," Aminul said.

"We see many things through newspaper and media that matches at this level are not being conducted clearly. I think these are reasons behind such a harsh plight of our domestic cricket. And that's why I said that a collapse was inevitable," the former Bangladesh captain explained.

Allegations of widespread corruption in lower-tier cricket tournaments have been a recurring occurrence in the past few years which only came to the fore after a grave scandal but only to be soon forgotten and being repeated relentlessly like a vicious cycle.

"Sometimes the clubs have a different agenda. All they are concerned about is becoming champions and they only look to increase the number of councillors. And when such things are injected in cricket, we do not get the actual performances from players," added Aminul.

According to Aminul, who currently works as a development manager at ICC Asia, media is also to be blamed for such a dire state of the country's cricket.

"After such losses [Test series defeat against West Indies at home and T20I and ODI series loss against New Zealand], we are taking interviews of some star players about what is going on in their lives or what they are saying.

"We are not talking about the cricketing issues like our temperament, technique, fitness, experience and application. All these cricketing issues are getting covered under the rug while we are focusing more on the lifestyle and thoughts of other big cricketing stars," said Aminul. 

What Aminul said is nothing new. But will these issues be finally heard by the concerned officials who can take a step to change the course of things or will the rot at the root of Bangladesh cricket still continue to spread like it has been for years?