Preliminary Asia Cup squad exposes shallow pipeline

A little over a year ago, all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin inadvertently exposed the sorry state of the players' pipeline in Bangladesh when he told the media, "To be honest, there are 20-25 players in Bangladesh who are capable of playing international cricket… Opportunities will come if I can stay fit."

To his credit, Saifuddin substantiated this statement himself by getting called up for the series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in this year's July out of the blue.

Saifuddin also features in the recently announced 25-member preliminary Bangladesh squad for next month's Asia Cup – an assortment of players which looks less like a shortlist of the country's premier T20 players, and more like the collection of almost every available white-ball cricketer fit to play for the Tigers.

Barring the players who only feature in Tests – like Mominul Haque, Shadman Islam and Mahmudul Hasan Joy, some domestic performers who have not been able to replicate it in international cricket –Anamul Haque Bijoy, Mosaddek Hossain, Afif Hossain and Yasir Ali, and some young upstarts yet to break into the national side – Akbar Ali, Jishan Alam, anyone who could have been drafted into the 25-member squad, has in fact, been drafted.

Few of the inclusions are quite baffling, given how they had either failed to prove their mettle in the format in the past or were very recently dropped from the side.

One of those selections was Mohammad Naim, who was picked for last month's T20I assignments against Sri Lanka and Pakistan on the back of good performances in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) and also an 82-run knock against New Zealand A in May.

But the opener could not make the opportunity count, failing to inspire with a 29-ball 32 in the only match he featured in the Sri Lanka series and his lethargic batting in the Pakistan series raised the question of what exactly he has improved upon after being left out of the T20I setup in August 2022, due to a lack of impactful knocks.

Naim has so far played 38 T20Is which obviously points to the fact that he is not untested in the format. While selectors may feel there is a chance for him to stake a claim in the setup, so far it remains only a hypothesis.

Soumya Sarkar perhaps exists in the opposite end of the spectrum as impact has not been a problem for him but consistency has always been a thorn.

Soumya, who has featured in 87 T20Is, was dropped from Bangladesh's last two series, did not score big for Rangpur Riders in the Global Super League in the Caribbean in July, but perhaps in the spirit of being in the radar, remains in the 25-member squad.

Even former skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto was called up to the preliminary squad after being dropped from Sri Lanka and Pakistan T20Is.

Current ODI captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz could not impress in the three games he played in the last two series, but that didn't affect his status as a player in the T20I radar as he was duly picked in the preliminary squad.

There are also two returnees in the squad in Nurul Hasan Sohan and Saif Hassan, who have not played in T20Is for Bangladesh since 2022 and 2023 respectively, as apparently it was their turn to get reshuffled into the national team's mix after spending a little time at the periphery.

Calling up these players do not necessarily reflect that the selectors are wrong to include them. However, the fact that familiar faces keep circling back into the mix after being out for a few series favours the hypothesis that there just aren't enough players in the pipeline.

BPL, a tournament that was supposed to unearth fresh talents in T20s for Bangladesh, has not been very successful at it and there are hardly any other avenues for players to emerge from.

The dearth of players means less competition for a spot in the side, which is never a good thing. But until new, exciting talents emerge, the selectors have no choice but to shuffle around the same group of players in the hopes of a better outcome.