Run drought in DPL and its consequences

The Dhaka Premier League (DPL) is going through a run drought this season as most matches have been low-scoring affairs, which inevitably raises questions about whether the country's premier List A competition is preparing the players for the challenges of international cricket.

When faced with good batting wickets in ICC events, like the ones used in last year's ICC ODI World Cup, time and again the Bangladesh batters struggle to get going and the bowlers look like fish out of water.

A big reason behind this failure is that the Bangladesh cricketers play most of their domestic cricket on low and slow wickets and are simply ill-prepared for the challenges of playing on a flat wicket.

On wickets that lack consistent bounce, batters often struggle with timing and bowlers get away with rank bad deliveries, often picking up wickets with such deliveries, which very much has been the case in majority of the matches in the first nine rounds of this year's DPL.

Teams have been bundled out below 100 six times, over 50 percent of the games has seen scores of 100-200, there have been only four 300-plus totals and only one time has a team chased down a 300-plus target.

Shinepukur Cricket Club head coach Talha Jubair acknowledged the lack of runs.

"Whenever we play the premier league, we adjust to any sort of wicket that we are given. We know that these problems will be present," Talha told members of the media on Monday.

"There isn't much to do since there are quite a few tournaments including the first division, second division and BPL. The wickets don't get rest so there is no point in blaming the wicket or the groundsmen.

"But the previous premier leagues that I have seen were not this low-scoring. This time, teams are winning after scoring 200," added the former national team pacer.

The spinners have been enjoying the playing conditions in particular with many of them having excellent economy rates. Mosaddek Hossain has an economy-rate of 2.52, having bowled over 29 overs, suggesting the difficulty of run-making in the middle overs.

But such economy rates only create a false sense of confidence which gets shattered on better wickets in international matches, wared Talha.

"The wicket at Mirpur was pretty good, some runs were scored. But I cannot blame the batsmen on the BKSP, Fatullah pitches. The wicket is slow and low, has turn and uneven bounce. That is why I won't give credit to the bowlers, they just had to bowl it in the right areas. They don't have to showcase any skill.

"I think it will create a false self-confidence which will not help in international matches. There [in international cricket] the pitches are batting-friendly. So, if the skill isn't there, then to bowl on this sort of a wicket and carry it on into international cricket is not a smart move," he said.

Despite the difficult conditions, Talha also asked the batters to show more fight and bat more responsibly.

"They [batters] also have to adjust. A lot of batters are scoring runs. [Parvez Hossain] Emon is scoring at the top of the order. If he can do it, why can't the middle order batsmen? They are getting out playing bold shots. Batters also need to find safe scoring shots and play calculatedly."