'Need to change everything'

Bangladesh Test captain Shakib Al Hasan walks off after being dismissed for 32 on the second day of the second Test against West Indies in Kingston on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

Nothing seems to be going right for Bangladesh cricket over the last few months. The national team has been suffering one humiliation after another with the latest coming on the tour of West Indies, where the Tigers seem to be clueless.

In the humiliating innings and 219-run defeat in the first Test in Antigua, Bangladesh registered their lowest ever Test score of 43 runs and were eventually bundled out on 144 in their second innings.

There was no change in approach for the Tigers in the second Test either with the Bangladesh batsmen once again struggling to confront the Windies pacers in seaming friendly conditions to ultimately succumb to another batting collapse.

The Tigers were all-out for just 149 runs in the first innings, courtesy of a five-wicket haul by West Indies skipper Jason Holder in the second day of the match at Kingston.

According to Sarwar Imran, the Tigers coach during their inaugural Test match, it is the fragile domestic structure coupled with the players' lack of tenacity to represent the nation that is to blame for the recent debacles of Bangladesh cricket.

"Why are you only looking at the national team? You also need to see the whole cricketing culture of the country. The domestic cricket from first, second, third division to the Premier League or High Performance team, everything is the same. There is no improvement of local coaches and academies and if your roots are not strong then how can they play well for the national team? If you don't have the right feeling when representing your country then it's difficult. For instance we were not able to put up a fight against Sri Lanka A at home recently so overall you need to fix everything first," Imran told The Daily Star yesterday.

The experienced coach issued a further warning when he said, "Talking about a national pipeline, which is in a very critical condition, I can say that the pipe has been broken. It's already too late and if we don't fix these problems, I don't see any further improvement of Bangladesh cricket."

According to former Bangladesh captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, it is the lack of character in the Tigers batting line up when playing the longest version of the game that poses the biggest challenge to overcome at the moment.

"First of all, you have to play Test cricket like Test cricket. Another thing is you can't expect the type of wicket we got in South Africa or even in New Zealand, which were better compared to those in West Indies. There was bounce and pace but what our batters were unable to deal with in the Caribbean is the sideways movement.

"The West Indies bowlers are also taking advantage of their height while our leading batters are also trying to play too many strokes at the same time," the former skipper added. "If you look at the centurion Kraigg Brathwaite, he played within his limitations and did not try to play too many strokes, something which our batsmen are missing. I think it's the lack of adaptability even from the senior batsmen of our side, who were playing more in an ODI style."