Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan stated on Sunday (October 29) that the Bangladesh Cricket Board is supporting their cricketers during this difficult time following their poor results in the present ICC World Cup.
Bangladeshi cricketers have suffered both on and off the field as a result of their five consecutive losses in the tournament, with the most recent defeat against the Netherlands serving as a knockout blow. Even captain Shakib Al Hasan stated that their season is the worst in recent memory.
“People love cricket, and that is why they will say bad things about the board, coach, and cricketers, and that is normal, and I told them you have to accept that because they are the ones who keep you in their heads after you win,” Nazmul told reporters after meeting with the cricketers on Sunday at the Taj Bengal compound.
“In good times, people will dance with them, and when they are doing badly, people will abuse them, and that is their right, but even if no one is there with them, we are with them,” he said, adding that he is unsure what is wrong with this team because everyone is failing, unlike in the past when one or two cricketers were unable to perform in a game.
Nazmul stated that the players are attempting to determine the cause of their poor performance, and that there is no lack of assistance from the board.
“The day before yesterday, I sat with everyone, including the coaching staff, for five to ten minutes and told them that I have no doubt in their ability, that whatever happened is in the past, and that I have faith that you will perform well in the upcoming matches.” Apart from that, I had no discussions with them,” Nazmul explained.
“But what happened in the last game(against Netherlands) is totally unexpected and we cannot even think about it and that is the reason I decided to sit with them individually and asked couple of players whether they are having any problem or missing anything and do they want anything that we can give,” he went on to say.
“Mushfiq and Riyad were together, while I spoke with Litton Das, Shakib, and Miraz separately.” They all admitted that nothing is lacking, and the only problem is that they are not scoring runs, and if the five batsmen do not score runs, it is pointless to score runs later because you cannot win the game. They have no idea why they are not scoring.
“They say they are all united and have no problems, but they are surprised that they are not scoring runs.” The defeat hurt the entire country, and they are much more hurt thinking about it since they cannot accept it.”
Nazmul went on to say that they are attempting to instill confidence in the cricketers since he believes they are lacking it the most and will need it to change the tide in the next three games against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Australia.
Bangladesh does have a motivation because the top seven rated countries following the World Cup, along with hosts Pakistan, will automatically qualify for the next ICC Champions Trophy.
“I thought they were mentally weak, and there wasn’t much you could do about it, and we couldn’t even change them because we were in the middle of the World Cup.” We have three games left, and we have no choice but to perform well in them. “All we can do now is give them confidence and help them have self-belief because if that is not the case, they will have doubts, and that is what we are trying to do,” said Nazmul.
“We can’t promise anything big in the next three games, and it’s not about winning or losing, but they have the ability to play better cricket.” Whatever they require, we will provide it, but they claim they do not require anything and that their main problem is that they do not perform,” he stated.
