Whitewash?
As a people, we Bangladeshis are so used to bad tidings that we tend to go overboard at the mere hint of a silver lining in the dark clouds that envelope us most of the time. The “reward” of a plot of land (where?) and a car (SUV?) to 20 members of the Bangladesh cricket team is, to say the least, a knee-jerk action, that is not justified by their performance on the field. Please consider the facts:
1. A whitewash is when one team wins, totally outplaying the other, in all the matches. In this case, the Kiwis ran Bangladesh very close and if they had scored a TOTAL of 21 (9+9+3) more runs in 3 of the ODIs, the result would have been 3-1 in the Kiwis favour.
2. Captain's performance apart, the team's batting was a disaster, didn't put up a big score when batting first even though we were playing with home advantage. What will happen when the Big Boys arrive a few months hence?
3. The team's batting and bowling averages are sub-standard. The less said about fielding and power play usage, the better.
4. The only other world class player we have, who was injured, has been deprived of the 'reward' while at least 6 or 7 others who did not even play have been rewarded. What an injustice to Wisden's Cricketer of the Year!
5. Batting benchmarks of 200 for T20 and 250+ for ODIs have become par. Most teams strive for 300+ in the 50 over games, yet we struggled to get even 200.
6. For many in the team, getting a plot of land and a car would be more than expected and make them complacent. Is this desired? Good Heavens! Why a car? Don't we have enough of them already on the roads causing gridlock? Just imagine a player driving to the Test venue in his car and turning up on Day-2 because he was stuck on the way.
I would request the people who announced the awards to reconsider; keep it in abeyance till after the World Cup. Give it to the good performers then, but only if we reach the Semi-Finals.
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