Faisal: Young players need proper guideline

Faisal Hossain Dickens is a specialist left-handed batsman who featured for Bangladesh in one Test match and six ODIs. He was a talented timer of the cricket and after several years of hard work, Faisal was given a chance in international cricket. Despite the disappointment, he has continued to ply his trade in the domestic game with distinction, piling up the runs. Currently playing for Dhaka Metropolis Masters in the Masters Cricket Carnival, the 38-year old talked with Dhaka Tribune about his playing career, coaching career and Bangladesh cricket in general. Here are the excerpts:What are you doing these days?I left cricket last year. At the moment, I am working on the development programme in Comilla divisional cricket. Besides that, I was the assistant coach of Abahani last year alongside [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon bhai. Last year, I worked as a selector for Comilla Victorians in the players hunting programme.What is your take on the recent development of cricket in Bangladesh?Our development in cricket is huge. Nowadays we are playing a tournament like the MCC. Players are main factor behind this. Probably 15 years back our cricket structure was not organised enough. But now, it has improved. And the way it is going, it will develop more in the next 15-20 years. Already, Bangladesh team are playing more positively in world cricket. Probably a few years later when we play in a tournament then we will play for winning the title, like the big teams. Actually we are playing for a win right now. Probably in the near future our team will dominate world cricket and be among the top three teams.

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During your career, the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League was competitive. Do you think the competitiveness is still there?In our times, the DPL was the main tournament. Now we have plenty of tournaments like the DPL 50-over league, T20 league, national league etc. It is good for cricket. More tournaments mean more development. But the competition level is still there. Probably in our times, during matches between Abahani and Mohammedan, there were lots of tension among supporters in the gallery. Maybe that thing is missing now. But everyone is still enjoying their cricket now.What differences do you find between the current national team and when you were playing?In our times, we might have thought less positively, in terms of result. Now players are playing for a win and fighting hard for victory. In our times, we also fought for good result but the positive mindset regarding winning a game is definitely the main difference compared to our times. We always had doubt about winning, and maximum times we lost. But now players are more confident and play cricket with winning mentality.What are your thoughts on the MCC?Actually it’s a platform for former players who have contributed to Bangladesh cricket. It’s a get-together for us. Hopefully it will continue. And for the current players, this kind of tournament will be helpful in future. They will know that after cricket, there is a life. There are still chances to enjoy cricket even after retirement.You are a selector of the players hunt programme. What is the process like? There are lots of academies and cricket coaching centres in the country. Young players are seeing various shots in the game. They just need proper guideline. In talent hunt programme, we are closely monitoring 10-12 year old kids. Some kids are natural talents while some need polishing. We are actually trying to fix proper mindset among school-level players so that they can aim and target properly.You scored lots of runs in the national level but only played a few matches for the Tigers. Any regrets on that front?Actually, no regrets. There are quite a few players like me who scored runs in domestic cricket but failed to score in international level. Probably it was my mistake.Do you think our domestic cricket is lacking competitiveness, when compared with the international level?Actually if you think it's tough, then it's tough. Some players adapt quickly. Some players take excessive time to adapt to the challenge of international cricket. Probably it happened to me. But this generation of players are more skilful regarding playing in the international level. You can see a player debuting for the national team after coming from the U-19 level and coping quickly. Definitely they are skilful and more matured compared to 10 years ago.