New Zealand whitewash Bangladesh

The New Zealanders reversed the 4-0 whitewash by Bangladesh on its 2011 visit to the country in the 50-50 series by whitewashing Bangladesh 3-0 in the same format on its current visit to their country. On the last day of the year at Nelson, New Zealand beat Bangladesh by eight wickets with 8.4 overs to spare having. Earlier, they beat Bangladesh in the opening match on December 26 and the second on December 29 by 77 and 67 runs respectively.
Bangladesh is on its current visit to New Zealand following great strides not just in the shorter versions of international cricket but also in Test cricket as well. It is no longer taken for granted by even the self-acclaimed better teams in international cricket, as for instance, England, Australia, and India. Therefore the 3-0 whitewash by New Zealand has come as a great disappointment to the millions of cricket fans in the country.
The margins of defeat in the three matches have been significant. But in the first two, while Bangladesh chased the targets set by New Zealand, there were moments where Bangladesh seemed to be in the game. In fact, in the second, Bangladesh after restricting the New Zealand team to 252 on a batting wicket was cruising at 106-1 when a silly run out turned the game on its head. Bangladesh team lost the next eight wickets for 78 runs to deliver the victory that should have been its own to New Zealand on a silver platter.
A close look at the second match would give an idea where Bangladesh team's problems are embedded. When Bangladesh bowled out New Zealanders for 252, the coach and the captain should have told the players that the total did not need the batsmen to take any risks. They just needed to take the singles, wait for the bad balls to hit the boundaries and the game would have been theirs as easy as they come. Yet Shabbir Rahman was in a hurry as if he was playing a 20/20 game and the risky sixes and the fours he hit were unnecessary for victory. Therefore even if he had not foolishly run himself out with help from Imrul Kayes, he would have gotten out as a result of the risks he was unnecessarily taking.
It was not the first time the Bangladesh team gave away a game from a winning position in recent times in this format by its batting. Against England a few months ago, while chasing 309 and needing 39 from 8.3 overs, it lost its last six wickets for 17 runs! It also collapsed like ninepins in Tests and in the 20/20 matches the same way. In order to sustain the gains that Bangladesh had made in all formats of cricket, including the 50-50 format, it is essential to examine why Bangladesh batting is subject to these sudden acts of diarrhea or the domino effect.
Talents or abilities of its batsmen are no longer an issue for the Bangladesh team. There are a good number of batsmen in the team who are quite capable of taking on the best bowling on offer internationally. Yet why do they fail at crucial times so frustratingly and embarrassingly? The answer to this critical question is in the failure of the coaching staff and the team's management in creating in the batsmen the mindset that the 50-50 games and the Tests are not 20/20 games. There was a time not too long ago before the 20-20 format became established that a team that batted first in a 50/50 game and scored 300 or in excess was virtually assured of winning.  
These days a 300 plus total is no longer safe in a 50/50 game because of the impact of the 20/20 games. A team chasing big total bats the first 30 overs like a Test match not taking any risks so that most of its wickets are intact. Such an approach brings the chasing team between 100-120 in the 30 overs because of restrictions in the field setting and the fact that 50/50 games are played generally on batting wickets. The team chasing can then reach a target of 280 with a run rate of eight and 300 with a run rate of 10 that with the 20/20 mindset is very easily achievable.   
This is what most teams are doing these days. This is what coaches are encouraging batsmen to do to change their mindset. This is unfortunately what the Bangladeshi batsmen are not doing. Their coach and coaching staff are also not encouraging them to do so. Instead, they watch without interfering as the Bangladesh batsmen bat in the 20/20 spirit and fall in the end like ninepins because they chase all totals big and small in the 20/20 mindset and even bat in Tests with the same mindset.
It is the team's leading and immensely gifted players that are responsible in batting with the 20/20 spirit all along in the 50/50 games and to a large extent in the Tests that is bringing the team's downfall. Shakib al-Hasan is showing the wrong way in this regard to the rest of the team. Tamim Iqbal has altered significantly his 20/20 style for the 50/50 games and the Test. Nevertheless, he still loses his mind in the 50/50 games as he did a couple of times against New Zealand when with encouragement and instructions from the coach and the captain, he could have served the team's interests better.
Shabbir Rahman, though not yet in the same class as Shakib and Tamim Iqbal as he is a newcomer, bats like he is unaware that he is playing a 50/50 game. Whatever the total, he wants to finish the chase within 20 overs and when batting first, reach a huge total again in 20 overs! This flaw of mindset in the leading players is affecting the other batsmen. Soumyo Sarker, who used to be praised a couple of years ago as the new David Gower, is now close to being forgotten, because of inadvertently following the mindset shown by Shakib al-Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, and Shabbir Rahman.
The problem with the Bangladesh team is clearly an issue of pulling the batsmen by their collars and forcing them to change their mindset or else lose their place in the side. Why not drop Shakib al-Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Shabbir Rahman for a game or two when they gift away their wickets in games that Bangladesh should have won by playing atrocious 20/20 shots? All three have been guilty of this more than once against New Zealand in its current trip to the country.
There is an issue of team selection that is another important reason for the disappointing way Bangladesh has been whitewashed in the just concluded 50-50 series against New Zealand. Tanvir Haider was not just chosen in the tour team with very little playing abilities, he even played in the last two games. His performance was so awful that it did not leave many in doubt that he must be in the team because someone powerful and with influence over the selection must be his patron. Soumyo Sarker should not have been in the touring party. He too, as many suspects, must have a powerful patron or two.
Mashrafe Mortaza, once an all-rounder, now bats like a genuine number 11. As a bowler, he still shows flashes of ability but his captaincy lacks imagination. A team that is potentially as good as any currently playing the 50-50 games is losing as humiliatingly as its 3-0 whitewash by New Zealand partly because of his uninspiring captaincy and a cricket board that is naive in its knowledge of cricket. And why is Mominul Huq, an immensely gifted batsman who can easily be a leading batsman in all formats with Shakib and Tamim, excluded from 50/50 and 20/20 formats? Momin's striking rate is 55 in Test, 74 in 50/50 and 120 in 20/20. Tamim's striking rate is 55 in Tests, 77 in 50/50 and 114 in 20/20. Imrul Kayes now regular in all formats has the striking rate of 48 for Tests, 67 for 50/50 and 75 for 20/20, all inferior to Momin.
A final word must be addressed about the Bangladesh media in assessing the future of Bangladesh's cricket because it is a part of the problem. It raves when the team wins and condemns it when it loses never bothering to find out the reasons behind the failures while exaggerating their few successes out of proportion to inflate the players' egos.
The writer is a former Ambassador.
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