Disagreement
I see that most Bangladesh fans seem to disagree on one point - playing against the lower ranked countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe and all.
The concerns being the following:
1. It will not help the development of Bangladesh cricket
2. It will not help promote the game in terms of sponsors
3. The win, if bangladesh, will not be of much help as it would be coming against lesser teams against whom Bangladesh was expected to win anyways
4. It will be kind of "demotion"
I thjink most of the above points are mainly related to point 4 below, which is the perception of "demotion" by playing the lower ranked team. And this perception is mainly because of 2 reasons:
1. The pride as a bangladesh supporter, which is quite understandable.
2. Fear of losing to those lower ranked teams, which is again quite understandable.
Both the points above are valid and justified from a fan's perspective.
The point i was making though was NOT about just playing those lower ranked team, but about ALSO playing more matches against them , and in favourable conditions. It is NOT like hey, Bangladesh should only play Kenya, Zimbabwe, Scotland and all. It was more like, BD Cricket management board should plan the iternary to have those teams visit bangladesh and play some series which may help bolster the statistical record for the team. In between, it should be playing against the major teams too. Maybe a little less.
Addressing the issues above, i must say one thing; the views as a bangladeshi fan are bound to be different from the views as a non-bangladeshi fan. For example, when a non-bangladesh cricket fan would look at bangladesh teams performance, he will be looking at the fact that Bangladesh has had just 5 wins in 91 matches so far, with only win coming against a major cricket playing country. And Bangladesh has been playing cricket for almost 20 years now, with it's first ODI dating back to 85/86. An improvement on that statistical record is definitely needed even as Bangladesh teams continues to improve as a team.
Another fact that does not go overlooked bya non-bangladesh fan is that Kenya, a team with no infrastructure and almost very little following of cricket in it's country stands a few notches above Bangladesh in terms of it's standing in ICC table (28 points against 1) and also in terms of it's record against major cricketing nations (It has beaten India twice, West Indies twice, Sri Lanka etc.). It also has 6-1 record against Bangladesh. On all accounts it is a superior team on an objective analysis, and playing a mini-series against them should be accepted and treated like playing against a better team.
The problem with the above is the pride factor, which is obviously human. It may sounds more like an ignonimy and humiliation to some bangladeshi fan, maybe many, if one is to visualize that Bangladesh is playing Kenya for example, and maybe that's why the cricket board is reluctant to have a series like that. And yes, losing in that case would really be a big setback with no face-saving consolation.
There is that risk. And that is also the dilemma that probably most fans on this forum feel, if i were to read between lines on the disagreements.
But i think that it is also one way to set the record straight and prove to the cricketing community as to why Bangladesh deserved to be an ICC test playing nation ahead of Kenya, while also improve on the statistical record.
Besides, you never know what good victory against a competitive, even if non-major cricketing team can do to the team's morale. Playing Kenya or Zimbabwe, or even UAE, is not the same as playing Honk-Kong, and winning against them will not be the same either.
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