Bangladesh finished the series against Afghanistan with an expected ODI series win and, probably or probably not, expected T20I series draw.
Yet, the results were not the talking point of the series. It was the less experienced players rising up to the occasion and the more experienced ones being lacklustre on the field.
The way Afif and Miraz saw their team through in the 1st ODI is already considered heroic. The performance of Liton throughout the series was the biggest highlight of Bangladesh.
Also players like Shoriful, Nasum performed above their expectations.
And these things raise questions about questionable rotation policy, which looks nonexistent for Bangladesh. To some extent, everybody will feel that they are right.
To put some context, we will discuss the recent serieses of Bangladesh at home as case studies.
Bangladesh hosted Pakistan in November last year. Pakistan won the 1st two T20Is comprehensively as expected. The big blow for Bangladesh was the injuries of Mustafizur and Shoriful.
Shoriful and Taskin are currently Bangladesh’s all-format bowlers. Mustafizur is hailed to be the best pacer of the team currently. Missing two of them was already a huge blow for the upcoming Tests in the same series.
As a result, Taskin being fit for the Tests became an absolute necessity which demanded giving him some rest after a long and draining World T20 campaign.
Instead, Bangladesh chose to play Taskin in the 3rd T20I for the sake of having some consolation and positive results.
This match didn’t add any points anywhere and had no impact on the next World T20 qualification as Bangladesh already qualified directly for that.
Still, they risked Taskin for a meaningless encounter. Unsurprisingly, Taskin got injured, missed the Tests and Bangladesh missed his service in conditions where he had a significant amount to offer.
Bangladesh lost both the Tests, missing out on any World Test Championship points. This chain of worthless investments in meaningless projects continued in this Afghanistan series too.
Bangladesh won the series in the first 2 games. Still, they went with the exact XI for the 3rd ODI because they needed points for the ODI Super League.
Hence, even after the disappointing display of Tamim, Shakib and Mahmudullah with the bat, they stayed in the XI and failed again.
Interestingly, there was no option kept by BCB. The reserve batsmen were Shanto and Joy, both of whom can easily be discarded on the basis of form and inexperience. This makes one wonder if Bangladesh, even in the slightest possible amount, ever contemplated rotation.
The same thing happened in the T20Is. Even after winning the first encounter without him, Mushfiqur Rahim found his way in the XI even though not being in the greatest of forms in this format.
Shoriful played all 5 matches where Shohidul was available who was in good form from the recently concluded BPL.
Bangladesh have a South Africa tour coming up next. They also have an away series at West Indies. Both are part of the World Test Championship. So the team needs the best possible pace attack of which Shoriful is a part. Draining him against a comparatively weaker side in home conditions doesn’t make sense.
Bangladesh did not win the series either, nor did they win the matches for which they took the risks. It has been a tactic that failed almost every time. The selectors have constantly failed to witness any potential replacements or future flag bearers.
Besides, making a reserve core that is almost destined to fail doesn’t add any value.
If somehow one of these XI players get injured before or during the World T20, it is highly unlikely that the team management knows by whom to fill the void, because they are not trying any.
Nobody knows for how long these wasted investments in meaningless projects ignoring the bigger picture would keep hurting the future of this side.
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