Where's Chandika?
Shakib Al Hasan was the third captain to lead a Bangladesh side out onto the field on this ill-fated tour during the first T20I yesterday. Before that, it was Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in the ODI series and Mushfiqur Rahim in the Test series who had to bear the brunt of the backlash for the negative results. While captains have changed with the format, head coach Chandika Hathurusingha has been a constant but since the eve of the first Test against South Africa on September 27, the Sri Lankan's voice has been conspicuous by its absence.
Normally it would not have been an eyebrow-raising issue but in times when the team has been losing, and losing badly, it has quickly become the elephant in the press conference room. His absence also raises questions about the differing measures of value the Bangladesh Cricket Board places on the captains and the coach. Mashrafe faced the music six times in three matches, and all except the first time -- which was before the start of the series -- he had to field questions about the team's failures.
The same went for Mushfiqur -- in two Tests, he fronted up five times, with the first day of the second Test being an extra occasion when he came to the end-of-day presser and informed the world that he was instructed to field in the deep by the team management, turning the spotlight on Hathurusingha, who has since just put on high-opacity shades.
Mushfiqur had to bear all of the negativity for the inexplicable decision to win the toss and field first twice, with disastrous results. But it is only natural that the decision was not his alone and one that other seniors and the coaching staff weighed in on, but it was just Mushfiqur who had to take the responsibility. No wonder then that he said after the second Test was lost that "when the team does really well, all the credit goes to the management and when we are not doing really well, all the blame comes to the captain."
This is not just about satisfying the press hordes' thirst for quotes -- failures of the proportions seen on this tour warrants a show of accountability from all the men in charge. And Hathurusingha enjoys a lot of clout when it comes to running the show. He is actually part of the squad selection, a rarity in world cricket, and so it falls upon him to answer why the players chosen cannot deliver or why new faces have not been tried.
As has been mentioned on these pages before, he is also the only one who can satisfactorily answer the question of why, with an extensive coaching staff and a wealth of facilities back home, the batsmen were like deer caught in the headlights even on pitches that were docile by South African standards. He is the one in charge of the practice, and it is obvious that the practice has not produced the desired results even once on a tour that has now crossed a month in duration.
Last but not least, it is hard to escape the feeling that Mashrafe and Mushfiqur have been thrown under the bus after bad results. Both intelligent and thoughtful cricketers, by their third or fourth utterances, they had run out of things to say and were left exposed, sometimes to ridicule. Meanwhile, South Africa coach Ottis Gibson has taken questions twice so far, and if the answer to that is that the hosts have been on a winning trend, it also answers who among the captains and coaches the BCB place greater value on.
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