Papon peps up the players

Four consecutive defeats compelled BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon to arrange a meeting with the players during their training session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.

Papon first met the board's technical committee in order to know if they had anything to say regarding the current performance of the team and then met the players.

"In the last two series, I believe that we crossed a certain level. The reality though is that we haven't yet converted ourselves into a team that can beat anyone and everyone.

"Australia and South Africa are the most professional teams in the world and we need to work really hard to beat them. However, what I believe is that South Africa haven't yet played extraordinary cricket. The unfortunate thing though is that our batting hasn't clicked," said Papon.

"So I spoke to the players and tried to encourage them. I told them that there was nothing to get scared. I spoke to Mushfiqur [Rahim] and Soumya [Sarkar] as well," said Papon.

The BCB president further said that he had conveyed to the team management the changes that the board's technical committee suggested.

"The technical committee sent their proposal. At the end of the day though the team selection completely depends on the coach and the captain," explained Papon.

When asked as to what he thought was the reason behind Bangladesh's batting debacle, the president pointed towards the fact that the batsmen had found it hard to adjust to the slow and low wicket of the series.