Contradiction even in assessment!
Bangladesh team's assistant coach Nic Pothas yesterday said the Test team's batting unit is going through a rebuilding stage and everyone needs to remain patient, a statement that contradicts what other important figures of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had said in the days prior.
"We have a very young and inexperienced group. There was a very elite group before this. Now we have to build. The only thing that we request is that people are patient," Pothas said at the pre-match press conference ahead of the second Test in Chattogram between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka starting today.
"These are very good young players, but they are young and they're playing against an experienced team and it will take time to learn lessons," he added.
Pothas also likened the young batters in the Test team to school-going children, indicating that they are still learning how to play cricket at the Test level.
"We wouldn't expect any different from our children when we put them into new environments. We don't expect our kids to suddenly be experts. That's why they go to school. So, they [the batters] are a fantastic group, and let's judge them in two years' time rather than now."
However, Pothas' plea for patience contradicted a recent statement made by national team selector Abdur Razzak, who blasted the batting performance of the Tigers after they were reduced to 47 for 5 at stumps on Day 3 of the Sylhet Test, chasing 511.
"There is no point in saying that this player is young or that player still hasn't settled in the team. They were picked because they have the ability to handle such situations," Razzak said.
Not just Razzak, BCB president Nazmul Hassan Papon also expressed his disappointment with the batting display recently.
"They are not children who have been suddenly sent to the ground. They don't have to be told everything. All of them know it," Papon told the media on Tuesday.
This contradiction is a bad sign for the team overall as this indicates that there is a difference in point of view among important figures of the board about the reason behind Bangladesh's embarrassing 328-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the first Test. Pothas' statement indicates that the Tigers folding for 188 and 182 in the two innings of the Sylhet Test was due to the inexperience in the batting unit while the selector and the BCB president in their statements refused to accept it as an excuse.
Moreover, calling Bangladesh's batting unit in the Sylhet Test 'young and inexperienced' doesn't ring true entirely considering four out of the top seven batters had more than 50 Test innings under their belt.
The inexperienced trio in the batting unit were Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, and Shahadat Hossain Dipu. Out of them, Joy and Zakir are Bangladesh's preferred opening pair in Tests right now with Tamim Iqbal not in the picture.
Meanwhile, in the same Test, Sri Lanka's most inexperienced batter was Kamindu Mendis, having played just one Test prior. But his inexperience didn't stop him from scoring a century in both innings as the young batter showed the aptitude needed to make runs in Tests. Perhaps, it would be better for the hosts to focus less on inexperience and more on the glaring lack in Test mindset.