BanCricFan
February 28, 2008, 09:31 AM
The U-19 World Cup is over for Bangladesh cubs and, more so, it has ended in a pathetic manner. Although, this side was touted as one of the best in U19 circuit both by the pundits and fans alike. Prior to the YWC, they won a number of ODI Series both at home and away against very strong outfits - Pakistan, notably- to give credance to their tag 'the team to watch out for'. In my opinion, this side was just as good, if not better, than the last two sides which represented Bangladesh in the last two editions of the Youth World Cup- in terms of talent at least. So, why such a meek and ugly capitulation at the World Cup?
Well, there were ample ' writing on the wall' for those of us followed the progress of the young Tigers over the last twelve months! Talent alone is not enough to succeed at the highest level of any domain. Success is not solely dependent upon talent. To achive the desired result, 'talent' needs to be harnessed, honed, nurtured, sustained, persevered, managed over a period of time with a clear long-term plan of vision. Any talent without a goal, plan or vision rendered simply worthless. This is, exactly, where Bangladesh management has displayed utter irresponsibility and unprofessionalism through absence of any long-term vision or working towards a plan. Some of you might find this criticism to be harsh...I would beg to differ!
They never had any long-term vision as to how they are going to go about achiving the result. Batting line-up was never settled, although, the team was under their charge for more than a year. After playing 7/8 Series, out of nowhere and just before the major tournament, they draft in three batsmen as a stop-gap measure!They kept tinkering with the most important opening position till the very last second of the tourney...Ashraful Aziz, Hamidul Islam, Rony, Shaikat, Majumdar...all have been shoved in as a make-shift opener. They couldn't find one opener over a 12 months period?! Has it been the case of 'why bother' as we are winning so many matches! Even by looking at Rony Talukdar's opening stats, this armchair pundit realised that Rony is no opener and it took them a year to fathom this!
What makes the management's unprofessionalism and irresponsibility even more transparent is the abrupt withdrawal of Marshal Ayyub from the squad at the 11th hour. Is it that they became aware of his age just before boarding the plane to Malaysia? ...And, why Iftikhar Nayeem was not added to the squad when Jodu, Modhu and Kodu were being drafted in?
India are well on their way of winning this tourney -barring Pakistan and what Pakistan does best- because of long-term planning and having a well settled batting lineup over a long period of time where each batsman knows their role. We crashed out miserably not because of any lack of talent but our batsmen were not settled in their positions and didn't know their roles- simple as that!
Well, there were ample ' writing on the wall' for those of us followed the progress of the young Tigers over the last twelve months! Talent alone is not enough to succeed at the highest level of any domain. Success is not solely dependent upon talent. To achive the desired result, 'talent' needs to be harnessed, honed, nurtured, sustained, persevered, managed over a period of time with a clear long-term plan of vision. Any talent without a goal, plan or vision rendered simply worthless. This is, exactly, where Bangladesh management has displayed utter irresponsibility and unprofessionalism through absence of any long-term vision or working towards a plan. Some of you might find this criticism to be harsh...I would beg to differ!
They never had any long-term vision as to how they are going to go about achiving the result. Batting line-up was never settled, although, the team was under their charge for more than a year. After playing 7/8 Series, out of nowhere and just before the major tournament, they draft in three batsmen as a stop-gap measure!They kept tinkering with the most important opening position till the very last second of the tourney...Ashraful Aziz, Hamidul Islam, Rony, Shaikat, Majumdar...all have been shoved in as a make-shift opener. They couldn't find one opener over a 12 months period?! Has it been the case of 'why bother' as we are winning so many matches! Even by looking at Rony Talukdar's opening stats, this armchair pundit realised that Rony is no opener and it took them a year to fathom this!
What makes the management's unprofessionalism and irresponsibility even more transparent is the abrupt withdrawal of Marshal Ayyub from the squad at the 11th hour. Is it that they became aware of his age just before boarding the plane to Malaysia? ...And, why Iftikhar Nayeem was not added to the squad when Jodu, Modhu and Kodu were being drafted in?
India are well on their way of winning this tourney -barring Pakistan and what Pakistan does best- because of long-term planning and having a well settled batting lineup over a long period of time where each batsman knows their role. We crashed out miserably not because of any lack of talent but our batsmen were not settled in their positions and didn't know their roles- simple as that!