‘A’ team win series but DPL star batters flop

Many of the top performers of the recently-concluded Dhaka Premier League (DPL) couldn't deliver impactful performances for the Bangladesh 'A' team in their three-match one-day series against New Zealand which concluded yesterday in Sylhet.

The hosts lost the last game by four wickets but still won the series 2-1 courtesy of dominating victories in the opening two games.

Despite winning the series, seeing many top DPL performers struggling to deliver in familiar conditions and in their favuorable format against a new opponent once again raised the question about the standard of Bangladesh's domestic scene.

Anamul Haque Bijoy, who was the top scorer in the league with 874 runs at an average of 79.45 and even earned his place back into the Test team with his DPL exploits, could make only 79 runs in three innings against New Zealand 'A'. He got starts in the opening two matches, making 38 and 39 respectively, but couldn't kick on.

Another top-performer Mohammad Naim, who finished as the third highest scorer with 618 runs, also disappointed in the series, managing just 62 runs in three innings.

DPL player-of-the-tournament Mosaddek Hossain, who made 487 runs and also took 30 wickets in the season, made just 17 runs in two innings but impressed with the ball, finishing the series as the joint highest wicket-taker with five scalps.

Former national selector Hannan Sarkar, who coached some of these cricketers during his recent successful DPL campaign with Abahani Limited, reiterated what is time again said about Bangladesh's domestic cricket while trying to explain these poor performances.

"Of course, there is a difference between our domestic games and international matches. There is nothing to hide because it's an open secret," Hannan told The Daily Star yesterday.

"We can't ignore or overlook the big gap between domestic and international matches. We always talk about this in discussions. And it has once again come to the light."

Hannan, however, tried to bat for the players, saying, "Many of the players were out of the international scene for a long time. It won't be right to judge them by two or three matches.

"We can't say that Naim has done too badly. In the first two innings, he couldn't extend his innings. Today [yesterday], he failed but in the first two matches, he got starts but could not convert… So, I don't want to judge these players by one, two or three innings," he said.

Hannan felt if these players get to play in more such series in the coming days, it will get easier for them to perform well at the international level.

"We are lucky that our A team programme is running and we can get some international flavour there to some extent… If they get more such series and come back in the team after performing well in those, it will help them to perform well in international cricket."