BCB president quizzes players' commitment

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon met with Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim and head coach Shane Jurgensen yesterday in an effort to identify the reasons behind the shocking fall in the players' performance levels, an aspect that was best marked by their recent defeat to Afghanistan in the Asia Cup.
Through the meeting the president reportedly sent a message that the board was looking to create stricter policies for the players and that some major changes could take place in the team in near future.
According to board director Jalal Yunus the president questioned the focus-levels of a number of players and also queried if there were any external factors, such as commercial endorsements, that diverted the players' attention. He was indicating towards the deals that Shakib Al Hasan, Nasir Hossain, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur signed with two telecom companies and many more.
The captain and the coach, who had earlier sat down with each player, mainly stated that they faced problems in successfully applying their plans in the games.
Papon also questioned the players' body language on the field. Insiders informed the disappointing body-language was re-displayed through a video analysis in the meeting. It was learnt that the efforts of Nasir, Abdur Razzak and Shohag Gazi, in particular, were criticised. Generally the team's best fielder, Nasir was not only guilty of dropping a number of catches in the last one month but has also been going through a bad patch with the bat. Razzak's casual running effort in the last game against India, which saw him not grounding his bat even after crossing the crease, was scoffed at by the cricketing fraternity. Shohag's bad-run with the ball also seemed to have had an effect on his fielding as well.
While the board did not question the commitment of Mushfiqur, who has been the lone consistent performer with the bat and playing with injuries, the board was however, concerned about the other players.
Another issue that was reportedly addressed was regarding the players' training. There have been questions regarding the training ethics of some of the more renowned players of the team, such as the likes of Tamim and Shakib in the recent past, despite their comparatively better run during the games.
According to Yunus, the president stated that no matter how important the player be, there would be strict actions taken, an aspect that both Jurgensen and Mushfiqur agreed to.
The president further stated that such a steep decline in performance was the last thing that the BCB needed during the changing policies of world cricket, which only a few months ago threatened to remove Bangladesh from the big league.