Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan has emphasized on showing patience when it comes to Bangladesh cricket team’s performance in Tests.
Nazmul’s statement came on the back of Bangladesh’s struggle in the format in the ongoing tour of the West Indies.
Tourists Bangladesh are on brink of suffering a series whitewash having lost the first Test of the series in Antigua last week and a defeat is looming in the ongoing second Test too in Saint Lucia.
The BCB chief pressed on the fact that Bangladesh are yet to achieve sustainable improvement in Test cricket.
“It is not right to say we are at a poor state after losing matches in the West Indies. We have always lost matches there, rather the performance in the first Test was better compared to the last time we toured the West Indies [in 2018]. So that definitely is an improvement for us,” said Nazmul in the sidelines of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis awards night Sunday.
“Speaking of 22 years of Test cricket, we have now started winning at home but that doesn’t mean we will win all the matches. We have won a few Test matches at home against top Test-playing teams, that is an improvement. We got the sense that we can win Test match away from home but for that if you think that we have turned into a good team, that is wrong. We have a long way to go in Test cricket. It took almost 26 years for India to win their first Test. You cannot be so restless,” the BCB president added.
Almost every time Bangladesh perform badly in Test cricket triggers discussion of the country not having a longer-version cricket culture despite playing the format for almost 22 years now.
Nazmul addressing the issue highlighted the challenges and claimed that they have now thought of a way forward.
“New Zealand are the world champions but since then they have won only two Tests out of eight. Does that mean they are a bad team? There is nothing to be so disappointed of. You have to believe in the team. Speaking of the domestic culture, you cannot work on it given the packed international schedule,” said Nazmul.
“The national team cricketers hardly have the window to play first-class cricket. There is no scope for them to play so it is tough to work on the development. The only other option is to create a new set. We have very recently started thinking about it. This new set will not play in the national team but only longer-version cricket at home and away,” he added.
