‘We’ve failed to develop human resources’

Nazmul Abedin Fahim is one of those few souls who had a purposeful hand in leading Bangladesh cricket against immense challenges. A mentor to many of the current national stars, he delves into the structural stagnancy that is Bangladesh cricket at the moment during the second of a two-part interview with The Daily Star's Abdullah Al Mehdi and suggests changes that should have already been adopted.

A philosophy's triumph comes from its unwavering-ness; just as important as success are the determination of those who staunchly guarded the principles of the philosophy against the obstacles that came and established its worth. The essence of a philosophy that produces success in the long term is that it can be followed, reviewed and renewed consistently.

Following the success of 1997 with the ICC Trophy, a new batch of players -- one that paved the way for the era of the Big Five of Bangladesh cricket -- with the determination to play a positive brand of cricket, ushered the country into a new era.

They had created the ceiling of what new and upcoming stars of the present could aim to break through. However, it was not so easy when they started and people like Fahim, who had seen it all as their mentor, was behind them from the start.

"We readied ourselves for a huge war with how we prepared. The scale of work we undertook was huge and we used to look after every aspect. Behaviour, conduct, food habits, everything was monitored.

"If we look back at the time 15 years ago, those that were there dreamt and for them it was the matter of those dreams being fulfilled. Shakib [Al Hasan] or Tamim [Iqbal] didn't know whether they would be able to reach the level they are at. I'm sure there were enough doubts in their minds as well. But the big difference is back then they didn't think themselves to be celebrities, like the new generation thinks. I don't blame the new generation since the circumstances now are different to what they were before."

Fahim says that that sort determination and culture 'needed to be cultivated'. "We were able to instill into the thinking of that generation – which had Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur and many others -- that 'we are no less than anyone'."

From the age-group through to the national team, the likes of Mushfiqur and Shakib were handpicked and guided as part of a batch of players who would be ready to take the next step in international cricket. The management come to that decision and way of doing things that was fit for that scenario but Fahim, who was part of that management group, would not necessarily administer the same policy for the present day.

"We didn't have a pipeline back then, like we do now. So that effort was invested in a group of players and it paid off," Fahim said.

"It was a high-performance training programme but we needed to do it on a bigger scale. Not just national level, we needed to do it at a divisional level. By this time, we should have implemented big-scale projects in regional cricket. Our cricket would have had a much stronger base by now [if we did all that]. If you look at Western Australia, they have the same programme for cricket development for the U-19s as they do for the national team. That's where we are lagging behind."

Fahim pointed out the massive failure in planning towards the future of cricket. "We needed good coaches, good grounds, good curators and from those urgencies, everything should have stemmed. But it appears that we don't need those things because there is only one school, in Mirpur, in fact for the whole of Bangladesh where cricket happens. We don't see a school like that in Rajshahi, or elsewhere and that should have happened by this time. Even at district levels, there should have been good schools. Because from those places, trained cricketers and people who will be involved in cricket would be produced. We have utterly failed in this regard. This would have been the country's cricket's biggest achievement had it happened."

The centralisation of decision-making of the cricket board was a large part of the problem. For too long, the idea has been to focus on the national team. "If we develop regional cricket, systemic development would automatically come into existence. When the regional entity would try to develop a game, they would have to compete with the other divisions. Right now, no one has a target or a responsibility and all responsibility is on the cricket board and all headaches belong to them."

When everything happens centrally, everything is on one body and there is neither the competitiveness required to improve nor accountability.

"We have failed tremendously in developing human resource in the last 20 to 22 years. If we want to spread cricket throughout the country, we would need good people. Our problem is that everyone knows everything but actually no one knows anything. Coaching, team selection, being a physio are very specialised jobs and not just anyone can do it.

"From 2000 till 2007, there had been work on programmes that catered to training coaches and thanks to that we have a few coaches at the moment but that programme wasn't continued.

He drew attention to the national team in order to drive home his point regarding misalignment of the domestic structure. His remark also sheds light on Bangladesh's difficulty in the longest format, as Test cricket requires teams to excel in various aspects. Poor planning does not bode well.

"When we look at the management of the national team, we have brought Daniel Vettori and others. We do that so the team performs but why don't we feel the need for that in first-class cricket? Don't we require good coaches, trainers and physios there?

"We tried to handpick coaches and foreign players and hoped they will make ends meet and do something. We need people, who are close to the level of international standard coaches, for our A team, first-class, Premier League. But focus has been limited to the national team and even if we want to now, can we afford to bring 12 foreign coaches for the Premier League teams?

"For us cricket is still a game. It has moved forward, it's not where it was 30 years ago. It has to be easier to plan forward and that involves a lot of research and paperwork. But no one is thinking of those. We are a result-oriented community, we look at the result but not the process. To understand things such as a process, one needs detailed knowledge," he surmised.

While the coronavirus pandemic has brought cricket to a standstill, the break can help organisers in the country look at the nature of the problem that has been created in the last decade and find real solutions that lend themselves to a concrete process. Fahim stressed that there is an opportunity for fresh thinking here and to ensure that the country does not fall back into the same loop which prioritises results. But that sort of planning would also require people with knowledge to contribute.