Bangladesh have arrived and yet, face the risk of being exiled!

Bangladesh have lately been in the prime of their form, after winning a slew of home series against South Africa, Pakistan and India, Bangladesh had a great World Cup in the most unforgiving places to play cricket – Australia. They proved their mettle and their belongingness to the top tier of international cricket, something which was being seriously debated in 2013-2014 by the top most stake holders in the ICC.

The question raised was about Bangladesh being relegated to the associate club, while a fair amount of arguments were made in favor of the motion, the stars worked in favor for the Bangladeshis, that in turn awarded them with the elusive opportunity to play against 3 topmost teams of international cricket at their home, South Africa were defeated, Pakistan and India followed suit, add to that Bangladesh’s previous triumphs over West Indies and New Zealand at home and it looked like they was on the brink of realizing the dawn of a new age for cricket in their country.

While the results have been showing only recently, they have been due for a long time considering the overwhelming amount of tireless effort being put into the sport from various sections, the cricketers, the businessmen, the cricket board, the government and obviously and perhaps of paramount importance, the spectators who continue to pour in at the Shere–e–Bangla national stadium, their frustration is valid and genuine for Bangladesh once played 41 matches without a win and yet, the 42nd match was a full house. It’s a phenomenon unique to them; unlikely to surface even in the cricketing madness of India should this unfortunate losing streak ever happen to us.

Bangladesh until its recent resurgence in the international arena has witnessed countless false dawns, the most notable one being the 2007 World Cup, arguably the World Cup of the underdogs courtesy the spirited display of resilience shown by teams like Bangladesh and Ireland and yet, for all its promise, it was just one among countless false dawns which raised hopes of the underdogs taking the center stage soon enough, the underdogs, however, proved that it was just another upset.

Taking the Bangladesh case into account, I guess the most concrete sign from where a spectator could decipher that change is inevitable would have been the 2016 Asia Cup where the home team advanced to the finals, its triumphs over Sri Lanka and Pakistan weren’t considered upsets as for once, they seemed like a side which could willingly and determinedly upstage its higher ranked rivals again if given a chance.

Watching a side whose most memorable upsets have come on the back of a strong spin attack beat England at the World Cup in 2015, give a fright to the New Zealanders and took the game away from India just when they found themselves on the unfavorable party to a highly contentious umpiring call is something which has reinstated the international cricketing community’s belief in Bangladesh while also creating a host of other problems.

Courtesy Bangladesh’s newfound ability of frequently upstaging their higher ranked opponents as per the present rankings based system, a few sides bailed out of their initial commitments of playing Bangladesh, perhaps looking to avoid the loss in ranking point should they lose to Bangladesh in a series, these sides would have thought to their pragmatic selves that it’s better if they lose to a higher ranked opponent so that it wouldn’t affect them greatly.

The upcoming tour of England will be Bangladesh’s first international assignment after a hiatus of sorts following this year’s World T20. While the rest of the cricketing world has moved over the T20 fever and have been engaged in Tests and ODI’s, Bangladesh will look to kick-start their campaign while hoping that a full strength England team embarks upon the tour despite there being security concerns in the minds of some of the players.

While security commitments have been fulfilled and found satisfactory by ECB representatives, the lurid fear of something going wrong, the guilt, angst and hurt left behind are factors appealing to the pragmatic minds not to undertake such a tour in the given circumstances.

However then again, understanding the workings of international perceptions is incumbent for us, so as to identify that’s it’s not merely the security concerns but the fact that the security concerns are magnified when in South Asia which for long has been labeled as the hotspot for extremist terrorist activities. Consider the case of the European Footballing championships which were played in France this year with a backdrop of terrorist activities in the said country and yet, security debates were nowhere to be heard even when a football stadium in France echoed to the noise of bomb blasts while a game was going on, a few months before the Euro cup took place.

The fact remains that a terrorist attack in France is unlikely to create even half the amount of security debates than the ones which would happen if one such terrorist attack takes place in Bangladesh. Perceptions are playing against the Bangladeshi’s, however English cricketers might just agree to tour Bangladesh considering that it will serve as valuable match practice when they shift their focus to the series against India in India which wouldn’t be offering any sparring tactics i.e. warm-up matches to the English side expecting them to have warmed up from the tropical heat of Bangladesh (pun intended).

So in a bid to avoid itself from being exiled by the international cricketing community, much like what happened with Pakistan after the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lankan team, more than Bangladesh cricket, it is the Bangladeshi security forces that need to up their game by a notch or two.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal views and opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of CricTracker and CT does not assume any implied responsibility or liability for the same.