Bangladesh must be in a volatile situation and the people responsible for this debacle, in dire straits. Even though it may be a blessing in disguise, I am extremely disappointed and shocked by this defeat. How low can we go? Canada is an ordinary team and the reason I know that is because I was involved in a match between SCCA (SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CRICKET ASSOCIATION) and the Canadian National Team. In 1994, the SCCA second team beat the Canadian National Team by three wickets in Los Angeles. It was not even our first SCCA team.

We play cricket once a week in Los Angeles and hardly practice. How much could they have improved during the last eight years? In fact they got older. I do not understand how could a Country like BD with rich traditions and cricket culture lose to this team unless Canada has improved that much in these years since I last played against them. I do not mean to take away anything from the Canadians and give them full credit for a stunning victory.

The BCB must wake up from this disaster and make necessary changes in domestic cricket, which is required to save BD cricket and the people of this Great Nation from unnecessary embarrassment. Why are Raquibul Hasan and Jahangir Shah Badsha not involved in our cricketing affairs to see these things do not happen after years of playing first class Cricket? Raquibul Hasan was the most knowledgeable and intelligent captain in BD I have seen. I do not mean any disrespect to all the other captains who I am sure did the best within their capabilities. But I could clearly see the difference from the age of 15.

Badshah and Raquibul are the roots of BD cricket and should step up and take charge. In my opinion, we stand a better chance if Cricket is run by Cricketers rather than Non-Cricketers. I played against Raquibul bhai and know what I am talking about since I also played against other captains and could see the difference between Raquibul Hasan and all the other captains except Iqbal Ahmed from Biman. The players can use their smarts of the game to benefit our National Team and not totally depend on ordinary foreign coaches. These foreign coaches must understand the way our players think.

I am very much aware that times have changed and that cricket may be at a different level in BD now. I have serious doubts that this Canadian team could compete with our 1982 ICC team, knowing that funny things happen in cricket and you can never take any team lightly.

The team management should not change the team every month. They must find a good combination and play with the same players and not change the team every other match. One or two players can be changed provided the players being changed have been given a reasonable time to prove their worth. Reasonable time does not mean every few matches. The business of including and excluding the same players every few months have to change. Changing the team and the batting order every match is a terrible mistake for BD.

The top five batsmen should not be rotated regularly. They must know the position they will bat at and mentally prepare themselves for that spot. Every time we lose a match, we change players and the batting order. Do the people responsible for these changes believe this is a solution? Honestly, the difference in quality between our own players is very little. That is all the more reason to mentally prepare them as much as possible and not replace them every match. This will only shatter any confidence they may have in themselves. We must draw the line for some players who fail regularly and not bring them back.

Dropping all the senior players together for this World Cup was a mistake. Who is guiding the younger players now that they are in trouble and need guidance? I believe we should have kept a couple of senior players in the squad. We should not rush the younger players into the National Team. The problem is we are always looking for a short cut to success. In reality there is none.

If the management feels they can start winning international matches by changing teams and the batting order every now and then, they are dead wrong. None of the players will feel secured in a system, which is setting itself for failure.

Now they will make more changes, which is too late since this was a game we had to win. I will name young Ashraful only as an example since he has been in and out of the team every six months or so and that sure is not a way to groom a young talented player. There are others as well.

I am a perfect example for Ashraful only due to the fact that I was approximately his age when I first played for BD. As long as I played for the National Team, I was neither replaced as an opening batsman nor dropped due to consistent performance in batting, fielding, hard work, playing with a lot of heart and being fearless no matter who we played. Having respect for the game is also very important and helps. If you are sincere to the game the game will be good to you. Every little thing matters in cricket. How ever, the main reason behind my little success is here:

We had two established openers in Raquibul Hasan and Yousuf Rahman at the time I entered the Nation Team. These two may be the best openers we ever had along with Athar Ali Khan. Even though I was about 15 years younger than both of them, the credit goes to our captain and the Team Management who had the vision to go with me instead of other big names. The fact they trusted me over my senior partners gave me a huge boost and I was able to perform consistently in both domestic and international matches. Either Yousuf Rahman Babu or Raquibul Hasan would open the innings with me for BD and had stiff competition for their spot since both were very talented players.

The fact that they believed in me to carry the burden of a Nation at that tender age gave me tremendous confidence and an added sense of responsibility, which proved to be a success story. I hope the same in Ashraful's case. Give him a break. This is a wake up call for the think tank of BD cricket.

After all said and done, all players must take responsibility for this defeat and any success in the future. This is not the end of the World Cup. We are also capable of surprising other teams. For now I wish our team the very best in the World Cup and hope our players play with some dignity.

We must look beyond this World Cup and make drastic changes in our domestic cricket in order to compete with other international teams. How and what can we learn from the failures of this World Cup and turn them into success for the future. That is the question for the think tank of BD cricket. For what ever it is worth, I still see a bright future for Bangladesh Cricket in spite of one bad day of cricket at Kingsmead in Durban and a World Cup we rather forget.

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