Bangladesh cricket’s attitude towards Tests needs paradigm shift; board needs to prioritise longer format of game

In limited overs cricket, whenever the word ‘upset’ is being tagged with any of Bangladesh’s recent triumphs, their entire cricket fraternity tends to get really offended. But the same community doesn’t make much noise when Mominul Haque openly admits in front of the media that his team is “not looking to cause an upset” in the much anticipated day-night Test against the No 1 ranked Test team in the world. Also, there is no hue and cry, neither in their cricket board not in the media, when the team management makes a tactical blinder by not calling a replacement in the Test squad, despite losing couple of batsmen due to injuries coming into the Eden Gardens fixture. [caption id=“attachment_7696251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  As Bangladesh suffer yet another overseas thrashing, questions are now being raised on their stature as a Test playing team. AP[/caption] As Bangladesh suffer yet another overseas thrashing in the purest format in the game, questions are now being raised on their stature as a Test playing team. Yes, there is no shame in losing to the best side in the world, which is currently in the middle of an impeccable run. But the lethargic manner, in which the so called Tigers have surrendered in this series, has raised quite a few eyebrows. It is not just their lack of quality; the problem lies in their attitude as well. It’s now an open secret that some of the premier Bangladeshi cricketers don’t even consider Test matches as their priority. Instead, they know that a quick-fire innings or couple of wickets at a crunch situation in an ODI or T20I can make them an overnight star in their country. Also, those limited-over sparks can fetch them an overseas T20 contract as well, which perhaps is the most lucrative goal for a young and upcoming Bangladeshi player at this point. The unfortunate way Test cricket is being treated by the majority of top Bangladesh cricketers is the reason why this team faced defeats against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at home. Though along with players, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is equally responsible for this growing apathy towards the longer format. From financial point of view, prioritising the Test format doesn’t fetch any extra incentive for a Bangladesh cricketer as of now. The structure of their current central contract shows that a Test specialist like Mominul is getting placed in a lesser category than cricketers like Mashrafe Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahman or Rubel Hossain; who are more renowned for their white-ball prowess. At the end of the day, cricketers earn their bread and butter from the sport and passion cannot be the only impetus to prioritise Test cricket. They need monetary benefits as well and Virat Kohli highlighted this point in his post-match presser in Kolkata, when he was asked to analyse Bangladesh’s lack to progress in the Tests. “Eventually the strength of the Test cricket should come from how strong you’re financially. Unless if you keep them [players] financially well, after a time their motivation will go down,” the Indian skipper summed up quite aptly. “Because a [T20] player bowling just four overs and playing for 20 overs is earning 10 times more money than you. Eventually, it’s your livelihood and you won’t see any logic and will think of changing your profession after five-six years and feel like becoming a T20 player. It can be improved with central contracts,” he added further. Over the next 18 months, Bangladesh have a busy schedule as a Test team. They have World Test Championship (WTC) assignments against Australia, New Zealand and West Indies at home and set to take on Pakistan and Sri Lanka in away conditions. Also, outside the WTC, they will feature in one Test each against Zimbabwe and Ireland. Hence, it is high time that Bangladesh cricket starts taking the longer version more seriously than they have ever done before. For any sort of improvement to take place, first and foremost the team management and the board need to be on the same page and identify a set of cricketers who have the skillset as well as the commitment to play red-ball cricket. It will be more like a structural change, which their coach Russell Domingo suggested in Indore. Once the players are identified, the board is required to provide them the financial security so that they concentrate on the improvement of their game, rather than looking for a gig in a random T20 league. Here, the BCB needs to follow the footsteps of the other premier cricket board boards, like the BCCI, ECB, Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket, giving utmost priority to their Test cricketers. And only after these structural revamps, the authorities can shift their focus on the secondary steps like the pace friendly pitches in the domestic circuit, involvement of more top players in First-Class cricket, high performance tours etc. Following Shakib Al Hasan’s ban, handing over the Test captaincy to Mominul was a brave call on part of the BCB. Though he hasn’t had the results in his favour but once Mominul has been trusted with the job, the board needs to persist with him for at least a year. Going forward, it should be the prerogative of the fraternity to encourage the young captain and groom him as a leader, much like what we see in any other developed cricket nations. Nevertheless, it has been 19 years since Bangladesh are around in the Test arena and still we use clichés like ‘developing team’ or ‘learning from mistakes’ to justify their dismal show in the pinnacle format of the game and no one even takes offence to these words. But now they should, if they want the performance graphs to go upwards.