The rot in domestic cricket and its consequences

While sifting through the wreckage of Bangladesh's disastrous World Cup campaign in India to find out what caused the team to crash and burn out in the competition, there are many apparent reasons that come in sight.

The sudden captaincy change that unsettled the team, the mudslinging between two of the most prominent figures of the side, the constant shuffling of the batting order, key bowlers and batters losing form in the tournament and poor planning from the think tank – just to name a few.

But buried under the pile of rubble is hidden the root cause of the disaster, the cancer cell that has infected the country's entire cricketing body, the symptoms of which are now unmissable in the national team - the appalling state of the country's domestic cricket.

From the days cricket first spread its wings in Bangladesh post-independence, the 50-over format has always been the preferred format in the country.

Since the mid-1980s, long before gaining List-A status, the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) has been the most prestigious domestic competition in Bangladesh cricket.

This 50-over competition played a huge role in increasing the game's popularity before the turn of the century and deserves credit for producing cricketers for the national team in its nascent years.

The competition in the league was intense, so much so that title-contender clubs wouldn't shy away from splurging and bringing in international cricket stars like Arjuna Ranatunga, Wasim Akram and Neil Fairbrother years before Bangladesh became a Test nation.

The highly competitive nature of DPL was one of the reasons why all of Bangladesh's early successes in cricket came in 50-overs cricket and that trend remains the same even after completing over 23 years as a Test nation.

But since the 2010s, when the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) hedged its bets on the Twenty20 franchise league Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) which still hasn't truly taken off as a competition, the standard of the league has been on a downward spiral.

"DPL used to be the main source of producing cricketers in the country until the introduction of BPL. After that it started to lose its charm and importance in the domestic cricket of the country,' Tarikul Islam Tito, the chief coordinator of the Mohammedan cricket team told The Daily Star.

While DPL still remains the country's premier 50-over competition, as aspiring young cricketers try to make their mark in the league to forge a path to the national team and many domestic-level cricketers depend on the earnings from the competition to make their living, the level of competition has taken a plunge.

This decline, however, is not incidental.

In the 90s, even though Bangladesh was at the periphery of international cricket, it had a bustling domestic cricket scene. There were a number of smaller leagues, who would unearth talented cricketers who would then be scouted by the DPL clubs.

But now, those smaller leagues have disappeared. The second and third divisions of the domestic circuit have now become the darkest annals of the country's cricket where greed for power has seemingly placed a bottleneck on the influx of young cricketers.

"Previously we used to have at least two to three 50-over domestic competitions such as the Damal Samal tournament and others… There haven't been any qualifying matches in the lowest division in the last few years. Earlier, around 60-70 teams would take part in this league where thousands of new cricketers would get an opportunity," said Tito.

Due to the high entry fee for third-division clubs (Tk five lakhs), teams without significant financial backing can't even register.

The teams who finish higher in the second division get councillorship, giving them the right to cast the ballot in the board elections.

As per multiple reports done by various media organisation over the past few years, the umpires play a role in making sure that only certain teams finish above the cutoff for councillorship.

There are accusations of biased umpiring in the DPL as well, however, the corruption that is reportedly taking place in the lower division is causing much more significant damage.

Over the years, there have been some instances where clubs in protest of alleged biased umpiring have refused to play.

There have been other protests as well. Like in 2017, when Sujon Mahmud of the Lalmatia Club intentionally conceded 92 runs off four balls against Axiom cricketers in the second division to draw attention to biased umpiring.

How did the board respond to this protest?

They banned Sujon for 10 years and also handed a six-month ban on the umpires who officiated the match.

But why did the umpires give biased decisions, that question was conveniently swept under the rug.

"I don't want to talk about the corruption. But things have improved when it comes to biased umpiring in the DPL." Said Tito.

Apart from the reported corrupt practices, there is also the issue of failure to adapt to the changes in the game.

Teams around the world are scoring in excess of 300 more frequently in ODI cricket. Currently, batters are scoring more freely as the pitches are getting better and better for batting.

However, in most pitches in the country, especially the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur – Bangladesh's home of cricket – scoring in excess of 300 remains a substantial challenge.

The low and slow natures of the pitches do not prepare the batters or bowlers for the flat pitches that are prepared by the ICC for mega events.

There are problems with the cricket calendar as well, where DPL gets pushed back to make space for BPL.

"We don't have a proper cricket calendar. So, how can the clubs prepare for the upcoming season? Over the past few years, the DPL has been taking place around May-June during the monsoon and under scorching heat. Previously, it used to take place around November-December," the Mohammedan official said.

Even amidst all this doom and despair, selector Habibul Bashar chooses to see hope.

 "Our domestic cricket has improved a lot. We used to talk a lot about the pitches and I think the wickets have been sporting in the past couple of years in both the first-class competitions and the DPL. I think the change has started even if we don't see the results right now," said Bashar.

The World Cup in India has highlighted the gulf between the top teams in world cricket and Bangladesh and it has also made it apparent that if the Tigers really want to achieve something big on the world stage, they first need to develop a thriving domestic scene.

Otherwise, Bangladesh cricket will get stuck in a loop of disastrous outcomes followed by false promises of better outcomes in the future.