When we started playing international cricket regularly after gaining Test status in 2000, we were not yet a settled side. It was a genuinely difficult period. The other teams were far stronger, and we were only just starting. For those early years, it was really about survival.
After winning the 1997 ICC Trophy and the 1999 World Cup, we did not win a single match for four years.
I was there from the very beginning, and that stretch was about survival above all else. When I became captain, our mindset began to change. We wanted to play good cricket, and slowly we started believing we could win too.
That was where the shift began. We wanted to win, even if we were not yet confident we could. At the time, we simply did not have as many performers as we do now. In 2007 and 2008, the other sides were extremely strong.
South Africa, Australia and India all had powerful batting line-ups, and their bowling attacks were stronger than they are today. Pakistan and South Africa still had several of their legends playing.
We were unsure whether we could win, but we wanted to. Now I would say we are well established. That is a significant change.
What worries me now is our lack of consistency. We win Test matches and ODIs, which is encouraging, but consistency remains elusive. That genuinely frustrates me – that after all this time, we have still not become a settled, dependable side.
I have served Bangladesh cricket in several roles as a player, as captain, in game development, and now as a selector.
Of all of them, my playing career shaped me the most. As a player, everything was in my own hands. Later, as a selector, having already been a captain proved useful, since captains are always part of the selection process.
As captain, I worked closely with the team; as a selector, I worked with many more players. I already knew the pathway, so selection never felt particularly difficult. My playing experience helped me judge which players had the potential to go further.
From 2000 to 2024, I believe we built a genuinely different identity for Bangladesh cricket. In the beginning, we simply wanted to be respected – for people to look at Bangladesh and see a formidable side capable of beating anyone.
Looking at our performance over the last two or three years, it is clear we have reached that level.
That said, today’s players enjoy facilities we never had. Until around 2005 or 2006, before the move to Mirpur, we did not even have a proper training ground. Matches were played at what was then Dhaka Stadium.
We trained in camps at BKSP or the Army Stadium, and for gym sessions we used a small facility at another Army ground.
Now, players have access to proper practice wickets at the centre – something we simply did not have. We had to make do with small side grounds. Comparing the training facilities of then and now is like comparing five with twenty.
Domestic cricket is also far more structured, with matches played on better wickets. Mirpur now has first-class facilities, and top players train well.
But compared with other Test nations, the gap is still visible. India has broadly similar facilities across Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi, even extending into the surrounding districts. In Bangladesh, good facilities exist mainly at divisional level, and not for everyone.
To improve further, we need similar standards at district level – at present, players still have to come to Dhaka for proper practice. We have plenty of academies, but they lack structure.
Many people dismiss first-class cricket as ‘picnic cricket,’ but that is unfair. It has improved considerably over the last four or five years, with matches now played on much better pitches.
We made it mandatory for every wicket to carry grass – a major change that has helped our fast bowlers emerge. Matches used to be dull, but now roughly 80 percent produce a result. Players’ conditions have improved too: they now travel by plane and stay in decent hotels.
I mention air travel deliberately. In our time, travelling could take seven or eight hours or even more. A player might spend sixteen hours travelling around a single match. That no longer happens. But the biggest change, above all, is that players now play on good wickets.
Let me share a memory. I was heading to New Zealand – the ODI squad had already left, and I was to join the Test team.
Beforehand, I had played four first-class matches and scored runs, but across all four I had faced only around twenty overs of genuine pace bowling, because most sides fielded three spinners and just one seamer. We have moved well beyond that now.
Still, when people speak of domestic cricket, they usually mean Dhaka alone. We have not developed the game outside the capital in the same way. District leagues have largely stopped.
That responsibility lies with the district sports associations, yet everyone still looks to the BCB.
On dressing-room culture: I believe a team’s success depends heavily on it. Skill matters, but in international cricket, talent alone is never enough. The dressing room has to be a happy place.
As a selector, I never entered that space; it belongs to the players. We had our arguments, our difficult periods and our good times, but carrying those issues outside the dressing room does real damage. However, many good players you have, an unhappy dressing room will hold a team back.
I also believe character matters more than talent. Talent alone rarely carries a player far in international cricket. I have seen plenty of gifted players who did not go as far as their talent suggested, simply because they lacked that spark.
Shakib and Tamim never merely wanted to play for Bangladesh; they wanted to establish themselves in world cricket.
For many players today, the ambition stops at selection. I believe it should go further – to become the best player in the side, not just a member of it. There is still a real gap between Under-19 cricket and the national team, and the mindset needed to bridge it is very different.
Around half of all Under-19 players do not continue in the game. In India or Australia, state teams offer facilities close to those of the national side; we do not yet match that at state level.
A first-class team here often trains only before the season starts, with no structured programme the rest of the year. Our state-level sides need year-round programmes. The new Under-23 programme, launched this year, should help narrow that gap.
I find nurturing talent harder than identifying it. Spotting ability is one thing; developing it is another, and it depends on both sides – how far the player himself wants to go.
There is more cricket being played now, and more facilities available, but the system would improve further still with year-round practice at state level.
Above all, I want us to win a major trophy in the coming years. We have not managed that yet.
We are winning Test matches and ODIs, but a major title still eludes us. Our sides were genuinely competitive at the 2015, 2019 and 2023 World Cups, with our top players in good form, yet we could not go far enough.
Winning a tournament takes some luck too – and it needs your best players peaking at exactly the right moment.
Author is a Former Bangladesh captain and Chief Selector of BCB.
