Bangladesh cricketers run during a practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. Photo: STAR

When the country is experiencing an unusual heat wave that is bringing sufferings to the public, a different kind of heat wave swept the country's cricket that left more questions then answers.

The squabbles of the last few days following the Tigers' early exit from the ICC World Twenty20 brought many things to the spotlight but there are really reasons to be concerned with the way the Tigers reflected their satisfactions.

Yes, one may say that it was just another match Bangladesh lost against Ireland but when a captain expressed his satisfactions by saying 'I have done a lot for my country and want to do more,' then there is really need to give a long look to his performance.

There is hardly any debate on Mohammad Ashraful's ability as a batsman. For any cricket fan it's hard to forget some of the innings the elegant right-hander has played since making his international debut in April 2001. How can one forget his century on debut Test match against Sri Lanka, a glorious and face-saving 158 against India, a heroic effort in Cardiff in the ODI victory against Australia. Inspite of all this questions remain about his consistency.

It's hard to believe how a batsman of his calibre could express his satisfaction with an average of 23 in 139 ODIs and little over 23 in the 48 Tests in his eight-year long international stint.

Is he justifying his talent? The answer is definitely negative. One can't even claim him as a batsman of international standard by holding this average. It's the batsman who made his last big score (101 against Sri Lanka in December last year) in Tests after an eighteen innings hibernation. He had not even made a fifty since he has made an unbeaten 129 runs against the same opponents in Colombo in July 2007.

His last two Test innings against the Lankans were 45 and 7. So, it's hard to know when he will score a fifty again because none can rely on his contribution. Every time he promised to learn from his mistakes he went on to repeat the same.

There is no difference in his one-day career. The 24-year old right-hander hit his last fifty (73) against South Africa in November last year and since then his scores are 5,18,26,13, 4, 5 and 3. Also, four of those matches were against lowly Zimbabwe.

Despite all the statistics, if someone expresses the kind of satisfaction Ashraful expressed recently, it's really alarming for our cricket. It could be dangerously infectious for the other players because he is now the most senior member in the team.

It's always good to be confident but before that one should realise his position first.

At the end, realistically it's not just his captaincy but rather his position which is uncertain in the team.