A matter of sabbatical in Bangladesh Test cricket

Shakib Al-Hasan, Bangladesh's star all-rounder and currently the number one Test all-rounder in the world, has raised a great deal of controversy by asking for and getting from the BCB monthslong sabbatical from Test cricket. Bangladesh cricket fans simply cannot believe Bangladesh can play Test cricket without Shakib who won for the country its first-ever Test victory against the Australians in Dhaka last month almost single-handed with a 10-wicket haul and a brilliant 83 on a wicket that was dangerous for batting.

Shakib answered his critics with irrefutable logic but only from his own standpoint. He said he knew how much his body could take and he could not push it to undertake a Test series against the South Africans. The South African series will be a Two-Test series with three one-dayers and two 20/20 matches.

Therefore, the series would not be gruelling by any means. It is winter time in South Africa as it is in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore the weather would be comfortable. And, Bangladesh did not come out of overexposure to Test cricket in recent months. Since December last year until the just-completed series against Australia, Bangladesh has played only seven Test matches. 

Therefore, from the Team and the country's point, it was surprising that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was all heart to Shakib's plea for sabbatical because there was no proof that he had overextended himself physically on the cricket field.

If his argument that he knew how much his body could take is to be taken as correct, it must be said that his physical fitness is questionable. It was poor management on part of the BCB to give in to Shakib's plea. What if the others, like Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim, who played the same number of Tests as Shakib, were to apply for their sabbatical?

South Africa is the number 2 Test-playing country in the ICC rankings. And Bangladesh would be playing the upcoming series in South Africa where the spinners would not find the pitches favouring them. In addition, Bangladesh's Test playing ability that the media in the country had taken to soaring heights after the Dhaka Test victory against the Australians, would be put to the litmus test in South Africa. Perhaps, Shakib was clever enough to have seen that and cleverly duped the BCB to back his application.

The BCB is not the establishment that should be given too much credit for bringing the Bangladesh Test side to its present position where no Test side is taking it lightly anymore. It has not really shown vision and the capability of handling a young and talented team that is highly impressionable.

The respect that the Bangladesh Test side is getting these days as a Test-playing country is largely due to the brilliant playing abilities of a number of players of whom Shakib is the leading one followed by Tamim, Mushfiqur and a few new players like Mehedi, Mustafizur and Taijul.

Unfortunately, the BCB and its inability to guide the talented players are in the way of the Bangladesh Test Team playing to its full potential.

Take for instance the series with the Australians. The BCB messed with the selection by playing favourites, keeping the Team's best Test batsman Mominul Huq out of the First Test altogether and was included in the Team when Mossadek was ill and there was uproar in the media.

He was not included in the Test-playing eleven. When he was included in the Second Test eleven, the management again played foul with him by sending him at number 8 in the second innings when the Team was collapsing after its bowlers had given the Team hope of a surprise victory. Momin was the best batsman on technique to stop the collapse.

The management again failed in motivating an impressionable team how to proceed in the second innings when instead of batting sensibly and taking a lead of 200 runs by scoring 272 or thereabouts that was very much on the cards because the pitch was friendly, it played as is its trademark batting style, the batting required in the shorter formats and folded for 157, giving Australia victory on a silver platter.

The way the Bangladesh side folded in the second innings when it could have made history with sensible and common sense batting underlined that the management has little influence over the Team in the field where they play pretty much as their instincts tell them.

And when it achieves a rare victory, the management, the players, and the media come together in what is certainly a sign of immaturity. The win against Australia in the Dhaka Test was one such victory where the players, the Board, and the media were gaga about whitewashing the Australians. The Bangladesh Team won the First Test in a pitch designed for their spinners and it won the Test barely by 20 runs.

When it played on a pitch that took their advantage away, the gap between the two teams was obvious that underlined that those who had boasted a whitewash had little knowledge of cricket and were foolishly arrogant.

The objective before Bangladesh Test cricket now is to turn their competitiveness against the better Test teams a little further and win more matches that are now well within the realm of possibility. Even the best Test players have to constantly persevere to improve and so must the Bangladesh players. A decade or so ago, their best batsmen had averages in the mid to lower 30s. Ashraful's Test batting is a case in point; as Bangladesh's best Test batsman, he averaged a mere 24!  Now the better players in the Test side have batting averages closer to 40s with Shakib and Momen beyond 40s.

An average of 45 and more would be required from the top batsmen to win more Test matches. Sri Lanka that came through the same road as Bangladesh is in currently taking became a major Test-playing country only when it had a crop of players like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene whose batting averages (in case of Sangakkara close to 60!) underlined how good Sri Lanka had become from its poor beginning. Compared to Sri Lanka's development, Bangladesh is still lagging significantly. In bowling, Shakib is now near to collecting 200 Test wickets and there are a few more, like Taijul and Mehrab who would now be able to cross 100 and even 200 if the International Cricket Council (ICC) were to give Bangladesh opportunities to play Test cricket as frequently as the top teams.

The BCB, therefore, must demand from the ICC more Test matches and must not allow its Test series to be restricted to one or two Test matches to tread the path of Sri Lanka.  The gap is still significant for the Bangladesh Test Team, the BCB or the media to have fancy ideas of whitewashing a side like Australia. The Bangladesh Test players have now strengthened the hands of the BCB to make this demand from the ICC. The Board must, however, be careful of not letting the players have fancy ideas while it too must not have fancy ideas about the Team.

Unfortunately, Bangladesh Test future would remain uncertain because the BCB has shown even lesser signs of maturity than Test players. And giving in to Shakib's request for the sabbatical has underlined this blatantly. The ICC is undoubtedly going to look at the South African tour very closely to determine whether Bangladesh's wins against Australia and England were the outcome of genuine improvement of the Team's playing abilities or that of a pitch that had given its bowlers an unfair advantage.

Bangladesh had toured South Africa twice before, in 2002 and 2008-09, and lost all four matches in the two series by an innings. South African wickets favour the fast bowlers. And these are is not easy pitches for the batsmen. Therefore, those in the BCB that decided to give Shakib the sabbatical have erred in a major way leaving many cricket fans to believe that they are overawed by Shakib's star status. Otherwise, granting him the sabbatical made no sense. Bangladesh cricket fans have serious concerns whether Bangladesh Test cricket is safe in the hands of those that are leading the BCB at present.

The writer is a retired Ambassador.

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