How a series against Bangladesh can count..

If the recently concluded one day series between Bangladesh and New Zealand is taken into consideration, scorecards of the matches suggests the way the performance of the New Zealand team has been deteriorating as the series progressed. In the first ODI at Napier, New Zealand were found playing the game with full excitement, when they beat the opposition by 146 after imposing a target of 339 to win and the Bangladeshi batsmen could hardly cross 200 runs on board. Then comes the 2^nd ODI at Dunedin where New Zealand reach the target of 185 in over 27 overs losing 5 wickets.

Then, in the 3rd ODI played at Christchurch, New Zealand as expected did beat Bangladesh by a margin which was in no means satisfactory. New Zealand lost 7 wickets en-route to their run chase of 244 runs for victory. In the first ODI, New Zealand did everything possible on earth to contain the Bangladeshi batsmen first to put up a mammoth score of 336 on the board and then bowl out Bangladesh for 190. Then, in the 2^nd ODI, the performance of the New Zealand team was comparatively below par. Though they won the game to take an unbeatable lead in the series, New Zealand should have bowled out the Bangladeshi batsmen all out; instead, Bangladesh played their full quota of 50 overs.

On the otherhand, New Zealand should have not lost 5 wickets to chase a target which was below 200. Finally, in the 3^rd ODI at Christchurch, New Zealand lost 7 wickets during their successful run chase of 241. For the first time in the tournament, Bangladesh could manage a total of more than 200. And, New Zealand had their worst win in the series when they lost 7 wickets. It is not an unknown fact that playing Bangladesh is just a formality and nothing else atleast as far as the New Zealand team is considered. But, now it is also a curse to play Bangladesh I suppose.

Hardly any team would take Bangladesh as a noted opposition though they are granted test status in international cricket. It is no big thing for any team to win or crush a team like Bangladesh. But, a loss against the same can make headlines. But, now a days, teams take a casual route to beat Bangladesh which at times are mistaken to be a tough fight imposed by Bangladesh which would not be the case actually. Teams have now started thinking wise when facing Bangladesh, with the batsmen thinking of playing some distinct shots against the Bangladeshi bowlers and the bowlers tossing the ball in a different manner to the Bangladeshi batsmen.

Teams rather than resting some of their key players have took to this sort of technique while facing Bangladesh. And, this could be more than a warm up game when New Zealand are set to face the Aussies next month.

Bangladesh touring just formally

If the ICC's tours table is given a close look at, one can see the way the minnows are sidelined. Nevermind that they can hardly draw crowds to the stadiums or provoke people to leave their jobs and watch them play on their television sets. However, if the first and the only T20 international between Bangladesh and New Zealand are considered, the series consists of just one T20 match that is followed by three one dayers and 2 test matches. Likewise, tours involving stronger teams would include 3 test matches five one day games and 2 T20 games off late.

Even if the recent past is considered, there have been series' between South Africa & England, Australia & Pakistan, India & Sri Lanka which consisted of 4 tests+5 ODIs+2 T20s, 3 tests+ 5ODIs+1T20 and 3 tests+5ODIs+2T20 games respectively. And Bangladesh were scheduled to play only 2 test matches against India on their home tour recently. Previous to that, Bangladesh played 5 one dayers against Zimbabwe, the result of which is not the million dollar question of the day whatsoever. Is it because Zimbabwe and Bangladesh stand at the same level in international that ICC plans schedules for Bangladesh in such a way?

It is an undisputed fact that Bangladesh are best suited for teams like Zimbabwe, Kenya etc who can make the Bangladeshis confident about their cricket. But, if that is the case, why did the ICC grant Bangladesh a test status when they hardly have been displaying some decent knocks even in T20 cricket. If the first and the only T20 game that was held at Hamilton yesterday is considered, as expected, Bangladesh could not win. That is not the issue here but, imagine a run rate of 4.45 in a T20 game. T20 game I suppose is the same for all teams including Bangladesh.

Bangladesh should have atleast played their full quota of 20 overs. Bangladesh are found to play better one day and test cricket compared to their test cricket. They have been able to defeat West Indies in the inaugural edition of the T20 world cup held at South Africa to enter the super eights. But in the next edition, they couldn't even pull a win against Ireland. They had to face the depleted West Indies team to register their first test series win other than the one against Zimbabwe. So was the case in their one day series' as well. This can be concluded that Bangladesh just want to keep playing cricket and win only when the opposition is weak.