Bangladesh “A” Vs India “A” Unofficial Test Match at Bengaluru.

Score Card at Stumps Day Two:

Bangladesh “A” trailing by 147 runs with 8 second Innings Wickets at hand.

Bangladesh “A” First Innings 228 All Out (Sabbir Rahman 122*, Shubhgato Hom 62, Nasir Hossain 32, J Yadav 4/28, V R Aron 4/45) and Second Innings 32 /2

India “A” 411 /5 Declared (S Dhawan 150, V Shankar 86, KK Nair 71, SS Tyer 38, A. Mukund 34, and Jubair 2/76)

In its fifth and last game of the India tour, a very strong on paper Bangladesh “A” t is struggling to avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat. Captain Mominul and wicket keeper batsman Liton Das are at the wicket at the score of 32/2 and still 147 runs in arrears. Bangladesh “A” lost the three matches ODI series 1-2 and lost the only other three-day match of the tour against Ranji Trophy Champions Karnataka. Taskin Ahmed the speedster got injured in the very fast match, Rubel and Shafiur also picked injuries in this match. Now if Bangladesh “A” cannot salvage a draw at least from this match they have to return home almost empty handed with a major strength of Bangladesh pace bowling attack effectively depleted. The defeated, bruised and battered team may not bring great news for the tigers back home. Hope they fight today and salvage some pride.

If we look back in retrospect Bangladesh has sent a reasonably strong team with 14 of the 15 member squad appearing with national color at some stage or other. Yet the team underperformed had only marginal success. The chief selector himself opted to accompany the team as a manager and we hope he can assess what went wrong. Why so many talented batsmen in the team failed to give a good account of them? Bowlers did not perform any better either. Excepting Nasir, Shabbir, Liton and Shubhagato others were pretty ordinary.

When potential players like Anamul, Soumya, Mominul failed consistently questions must logically arise what happened to the psyche of the team. Cricket is not played these days merely on batting on bowling skills. It is also a very much mental game. Why Bangladesh batted every time the batsmen appeared panicked, appeared in a hurry. Same players made same mistakes time and again leading to logical question what Farukh Ahmed as a mentor and Heath Streak as coach were doing? Were they in business or they were holidaying and watching matters unfold?

Anamul Haque is looked upon as a genuine stroke making opener. He failed in all innings excepting one including few ducks. Soumya performed well below his normal self. Mominul looked pathetically out of form. Liton, Nasir, Subhagato and Sabbir were consistent. But every time they had to act with the team in deep crisis.

If we judge the innings those Nasir and Sabbir played these were all in one-day mode. I will not undervalue these but in given circumstances these ultimately proved like “ploughing in the sand.” Bangladesh batsmen have not matured in longer version batting. They cannot build their innings. It is not difficult for opposition bowlers to size up size batsmen and get them out.

Leaving these aside what can happen today? With the fate of the match for Bangladesh heavily relying on how the middle order and late order bat and how long can they keep India “A” bowlers at bay the necessity of hurriedly announcing the test squad was not understood. Sabbir produced a brilliant unbeaten  122 in the first innings, Shubhagato is proving to come to terms as a useful all-rounder.They will have a little inspiration for them when they will come to bat today knowing that they are not in the squad announced for appearing against Australia ( off course there is huge “If”).  With the prospect of the series still in the womb of uncertainty what was the big hurry for announcing the team?

A question can also arise about the injury of three key pace bowlers of the team. Taskin got injured in the very first match. Rubel and Shafiur in the last. Were they really match fit to start with? Did the team management look after them well?

There were some media reports that BCB Director In charge of Cricket Operations was overruled about some matters related to the tour.Touring team officials and coaching staff are responsible to Director Operation. Top Management off course has the prerogative to accept or overrule him. But it appeared that in this case he was not even consulted.

When things go well such issues remain under the surface. But if today for any reason Bangladesh A succumb to an innings defeat critics will ask genuine questions. “What is cooking in BCB Kitchen?

Well, everything is not lost yet. India A will be desperate to win and will leave nothing unturned. They possess a reasonable attack of pace and spin. We only hope that Mominul finally redeems, Liton, Sabbir, Nasir and Subhagato bat true to their form. Avoiding the following on should be the first and foremost target.  Hope they will commit themselves and salvage some pride.

BDST: 1025 HRS, SEP 29, 2015
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