BCB needs a reality check too

When Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan spoke to media on Monday following the Tigers' defeat against Scotland a day earlier, he cut a rather distraught figure, saying he could not quite grasp the reality of Bangladesh being defeated by an Associate nation in a prestigious tournament.

However, while talking about the emotional and mental state of the team, he said that message has been relayed to the players to not lose sleep over what has happened. In particular, while asked why Tamim Iqbal opted out of the World Cup due to differences with the coach, the president's message was firm, saying there was no place for 'emotions' when playing for one's country. The president did not, however, hide from communicating his own emotions regarding the defeat to Scotland.

But does Bangladesh cricket's governing body has the same emotion or affection when dealing with the entirety of Bangladesh cricket? Or are emotions and affections only to be extended for the national team?

Talking about Tamim opting out of the T20 World Cup and his difference with some key personnel in the World Cup setup, the BCB president said: "What problem can there be with someone? There could be problems. A player could have problems with the coach but these are personal matters. When you are playing for your country, you have to forget such things. There is no place for emotions here. You have to forget everything else for the country."

"The thing is, I knew about Tamim's decision beforehand. I even had information that someone else was going to exclude himself. But he's playing now. No reason to keep things within yourself, if someone does not want to play, he should say so," the president remarked.

Those are indeed wise words and could be prescribed in any team sports but when coming from the BCB president himself, it often appears the focus, not only now but over the years, has been mostly on the national team. A promise made in his previous term as president of the BCB was the establishment of regional cricket associations. No emotions, just attention to detail was the way to go. The regional cricket association remains a pipe dream.

Where are cricketers formed? School teams, age-level cricket such as U-13 up to U-18 and then divisional and regional cricket for clubs would be some of the preferable answers. The Dhaka Premier League and NCL or BCL are platforms where budding cricketers can then show their effort but not platforms for development per say. Where is the effort to improve the structure?

"Why did we lose? The basic thing is I am not bothered by just victories or defeats. Cricket can be like that, especially the T20 format. But I think what I found problematic is the team approach," Hassan further said.

In short, the president talked about the process regarding setting up structures. We, too, hope that some semblance of process will return to cricket because while the cricket board was not involved in forming the present-day cricket stars, it surely will have impact on the future stars.