A golden age of substandard batters
Bangladesh opener Mohammad Naim's fortunes went from bad to worse to worst in a span of 72 hours.
On October 14, he was dismissed for an ugly seven off 24 balls in Bangladesh's third ODI against Afghanistan. The following day, he, alongside other players, got jeered by fans at the airport in Dhaka, and on the 16th, he was dropped for the three ODIs against West India at home, set to begin on Saturday.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. In an ODI career spanning five years, Naim has only played nine matches and has made a mere 102 runs. Most tellingly, he is yet to play an innings of authority, a knock that would prove that he belongs in ODIs.
The irony is that Naim, who averages a paltry 12.75 for the Tigers in ODIs, possesses the third highest average among all Bangladeshis who have played a minimum of 50 List A matches.
What is even more ironic, considering the shambolic state of the team's batting department in the recent past, that the top three names in this list are part of the national setup right now.
A golden age?
Out of all Bangladeshi batters who have batted at least 50 times in List A cricket, Tawhid Hridoy possesses the highest average, 46.16 in 106 innings.
Naim is third, averaging 44.31 in 121 innings, and in-between them is Mahidul Islam Ankon, the man who replaced Naim for the West Indies series and is yet to debut for Bangladesh, who averages 44.53 after 90 innings.
All three of them are in their mid-20s, with considerable experience behind them and a long career ahead, and should be leading the charge as the next generation of Bangladesh batters in the 50-over format.
But the reality is quite different. Ankon is yet to be tested at this level, Naim in his few chances has looked underprepared for ODIs and Hridoy, after a great start to his ODI career, is now scoring runs at a snail's pace in the middle-order.
Looking at the Tiger's current ODI setup, a few other names of young batters pop up like Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Parvez Hossain Emon, and Saif Hassan, but all of whom are yet to emerge as the next big hope in ODI batting for Bangladesh.
Because of their failures and the exit of many experienced faces, Bangladesh's batting in ODIs is looking more vulnerable than it has in many years.
But why is that?
A lost league and broken pipeline
The Dhaka Premier League (DPL) is the only List-A domestic tournament in Bangladesh, the place where the country's cricketers learn how to play in the 50-over format.
The DPL gradually losing its zeal in the past decade or so has been on the news many times, but its true ramification is being felt right now.
For years in Bangladesh, cricketers have broken into the national setup from a same pattern.
The management earmarks talented players from age-level cricket, picks them for the developmental teams, sends them in tours with the 'A' team or the HP team, and eventually picks them for the national side.
Whenever Bangladesh needs reinforcements, selectors don't automatically select the in-form player from DPL, instead, they reuse players who were dropped a few series earlier, as the common consensus is that runs in the DPL is not enough to earn a Bangladesh cap.
This pattern creates a divide, with players who don't get spotted at an early age having little to no chance of making it into the national setup, making DPL only a source of earning a steady income for cricketer, not the last stop before playing for Bangladesh.
No other Test-playing country has such an overdependence on age-level cricket and pays such little attention to its top 50-over league. And till DPL regains at least some of its past glory, Bangladesh will continue to suffer in ODIs.
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