DHAKA: Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, has once again criticised Bangladesh’s players in the middle of a series. In the wake of their T20I series defeat to Afghanistan, with one match still to play, Hassan has accused them of taking advantage of a “free environment in the dressing room” in the absence of a head coach, reported Cricinfo.
“This is very frustrating,” Hassan said. “I think the team is in the same state as it was during the home series against Sri Lanka (in which Bangladesh lost all their matches). It might be that they are missing the decision-maker in the dressing room. They are missing the strictness and the condition they were in the past few years. They are now under a free environment and that might be making the difference.
“I was with them in Sri Lanka in the Nidahas Trophy and they played well there. No one accused them after losing matches there. But in Dehradun the team is looking very different. I spoke to them and I think they are blaming the bowling department and I told them you cannot win scoring low.”
This is not the first time Hassan has gone after the players or the dressing-room environment in recent months. In February, after Bangladesh’s home-series defeat to Sri Lanka, he said the team was “lacking in planning, strategy, mental strength and teamwork”. Then, during the Nidahas Trophy, he criticised interim head coach Courtney Walsh for his inability to draw up batting plans while giving himself credit for the team’s turnaround after their opening-game loss.
Now, Hassan has also questioned Shakib Al Hasan’s captaincy and the batting approach of senior players Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and Tamim Iqbal.
“There will always be questions over the captaincy,” Hassan said. “Even I questioned him [Shakib] after the first game. I did not speak to anyone after losing the second game. Yes, there might have been a change in the dressing room without a coach but then what have they learnt in the past years?
“I cannot understand how they can give away wickets despite being set like Mushfiqur, [Mahmudullah] Riyad or even Tamim. There is nothing to make them understand or realise. It is tough for me to understand what they were thinking or had in plan.”
