Before getting a place in the Test squad for India tour, Imrul Kayes' three innings in the National Cricket League (NCL) were 212 *, 9 and 22. Opener Shadman Islam Anik scored a superb knock of 178. Mahmudullah finished his preparation with three brilliant innings of 63, 63 and 111 runs. Pacer Ebadot Hossain picked up 8 wickets in match he played before leaving for India. Bangladesh Test skipper Mominul Haque also had a decent run in the NCL.
This time around, almost most of the players in the national team played domestic first class cricket in preparation for the India tour. In two or three rounds they played in NCL, most of them got consistent runs, got wickets.
Considering the performance of the NCL, the preparation of national team players for the India Test series were very good. However, their abysmal performances in the Indore and Kolkata Tests against India have again showcased the immense difference in quality among India and Bangladesh.
The question here is, why the players could not replicate the performances of NCL in the India series? Or at least perform close to what they performed in NCL.
The standard of international cricket cannot be matched with domestic cricket.
There will be differences between the two. But how vast should that difference be? The difference of Bangladesh’s domestic first class cricket with that of England’s County Cricket, Australia’s Sheffield Shield or India’s Ranji Trophy is huge.
“The quality of our domestic cricket in relation to international cricket is vast," said pacer Al
Amin, who played in the Kolkata Test.
To completely reduce this vast gap is something next to impossible. But the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) can at least try to reduce this mammoth difference in quality in our first class cricket. How does BCB try to bring that change? The answer should not be unknown to the BCB authorities. They should have got their answer when they visited Indore, where Bangladesh played their first Test. Speaking of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, Madhya Pradesh is one of the laggards in Indian cricket.
However, it is doubtful whether Bangladesh even have the cricket infrastructure present in that province!
In Gujrat, Rajkot, in the fourth largest city of a province, where Bangladesh played their second T20 match against India, have advanced cricketing infrastructures! Building infrastructure is not only the end, even after less number international matches in Rajkot, the field remains busy with domestic matches for the 75% of time.
Despite the remarkable stadium of Rajkot, Saurashtra Cricket Association has taken initiative to build the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the province. Taking all these facts into consideration BCB can’t even compete with a state cricketing board let alone the whole India.
All the curators of Ranji Trophy are instructed strictly by the BCCI to make domestic league’s pitches in a way where Indian batsmen could struggle abroad. This is done so that the players can constantly play in sporting pitches and adopt to it.
Do we see this kind of competitive scenario in our domestic cricket? We don’t and this why there is vast difference in quality. BCB have miles to go and a lot of work to do to reboot country’s domestic cricket. Otherwise, Tigers will have to surrender again and again in Test against elite teams.