'Bowling unit lacks hunger to improve'

Former Bangladesh captain and current Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Khaled Mahmud yesterday said that it was high time for the board to think about the national team's bowling unit. BCB president Nazmul Hassan had sent Mahmud there with a special assignment following Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim's statements which had led to heated debates and also to find out the reason behind the Tigers' poor showings on the tour.

"I stayed there [in South Africa] for four days and spoke to everybody. There was nothing wrong in the team but everybody was really concerned with the performance of the bowlers, especially the pace bowlers performance and effort will need to be assessed seriously for future interest," said Mahmud.

When asked about whether the bowling problem was exposed in South Africa, Mahmud said: "Not really. If you look at the stats you will find the sordid picture of our pace bowling. You may find some special efforts that gave us glorious victories such as during the 2015 ICC World Cup against England but you will not find any consistency. Now the time has come for the board to take a long look at this issue."

Who then should be blamed for the long-standing problem?

"You can point the finger to many but ultimately the players' self-motivation matters most. Look at our batsmen. They have improved owing to their own hard work and effort. A bowler can't expect improvement after bowling four or five overs in the nets. They have to have the hunger for improvement but the reality is just the opposite. There is no need for any mentors to bowl in the right spots and maintain discipline," explained Mahmud.

"Once there were no specialist coaches in the national team but now they have everything. So what can you do if a bowler fails to improve himself after staying in international cricket for seven to eight years? If you don't know how you need to change your pace then how can you play international cricket? It's alarming the way they bowled so far on the tour of South Africa so we cannot overlook it."

The former skipper also said that if Bangladesh want to take the next step in international cricket then the board must take special measures to improve the bowling unit.

"We have reached a certain level in international cricket but our improvement will not be sustainable and we cannot go further if we fail to make a good bowling unit."