Ashraful is getting better, that's for sure. But whether it's because of the removal of captaincy burden or not - this needs in depth analysis. He's concentrating on ball by ball innings building (using cricket brain) rather than rash shots for 4 or 6 every ball. Many have said letting Ash curb his shots was not the right idea - but that has actually resulted in us creating thread like this one. We can now say "Ashraful getting better".
Looking at the circumstances around the Team it seems that removing the Captaincy burden may have eased some pressures off Ashraful. In BD culture part of one's mind usually gets involved with what people around us are saying about us. "Pache loke kichu bole". He had to come out of using 2 minds (one for cricket and one for people around me) while playing for the team. Removal of captaincy burden certainly have gone a long way of ensuring Ash doesn't get some (not all) undesired focus. I remember McInnes was explaining in 2005 that "The problem with Bangladeshi players is that most of them are externally motivated" (Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/2005/05/31/d50531040428.htm). The fame, prizes and praises are usually seen as the main motivational factor for our players to perform well. But we needed to perform well just because we want to WIN - that should be installed in our cricketer's minds. I believe, Removal of captaincy, shaping of Shakib, Rokibul, Tamim, Mushfiq as dependable batsmen - all have contributed to having less pressure on Ashraful. These all have a combined effect on "Ashraful getting better".