Published on 12:02 AM, September 18, 2014

Everyone knows what the answers will be

Everyone knows what the answers will be

Bangladesh finished their Caribbean trip with a 296-run defeat on the fourth day of the second and final Test at St. Lucia on Tuesday. But unlike the first two full series, the Tigers are returning home empty handed.
It can be debated whether the performance of the Tigers in the series declined or remained stagnant, but one certainty is that it was the age-old problems that led Bangladesh to the disappointing end.
The series began with a missed opportunity and ended with another. Tamim Iqbal's madness on the fourth day of the second Test might be depicted as the real sordid picture of the series, where unplanned batting, wrong approach and application of the batters saw the visitors meekly succumb to a 3-0 defeat in the ODI series and 2-0 in the Test series.
Why did Tamim play that slog sweep to spoil all his hard work? Did his body betray his mind or was he not able to understand the value of a good partnership? Whatever the answer is, his departure caused a dramatic collapse and the opportunity to finish the series with some solace ended with the same old question: When will we solve the problems we have been facing over the past decade?
If we genuinely believe that this tour was embarrassing for us, then who will take the responsibility for it? From past experiences one can predict the reactions of the players, the officials and others related to the game for this disastrous trip.
From the side of BCB officials, you may get the same old reactions: "We will evaluate the results. There were some mistakes in the team selection. We will examine the team management's report. If needed we will call an emergency meeting to discuss the debacle. We have to take a long-term plan to solve some issues including the improvement of the standard of domestic cricket. We also have some doubts over the commitment of a few players, if needed we will bring changes to the whole team and even the management."
That's all we can expect from the BCB who will then take a break and wait for another series.
Our expectations from the coaches are similar too: "The boys have the ability to perform much better than what they did in the series."

The selectors themselves are looking for solutions. If we have a chance to meet them we may hear a lot of revolutionary comments but those statements would be made off the record.
Now ask the players including the captain himself and they will not hesitate to say that there were some positives in the embarrassing defeats. They will draw your attention to the centuries of Anamul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim, the return to form of Tamim and Mahmudullah Riyad and the five-wicket haul of new left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.
Expressing his frustration over his team's performance, the captain will say 'that the uncertainty over places on the team might have played a role in the poor showing'. It does not matter that Nasir Hossain kept his place in the side despite his continued failure. The captain may say that everybody is working hard and that they need just one win to get out of their lean patch; that they have the ability to do much better.
At the end of this episode we will get a mixture of opinions and promises from a wide range of people. However, all that will be forgotten before the next series. The fact is that everybody knows where the roots of the problems lie; unfortunately rarely does anyone take a step towards solving them.