Shakib's salvo in poor taste

The Bangladesh cricket team have completed their assignments in the first part of the year without any success; there is not much to be inspired by from their wins against Afghanistan and Nepal in the ICC World Twenty20. The performances in the World T20 might have been a crushing disappointment to their loyal fans, but everything cannot end with bad performances in one tournament. But naturally the post-mortem is going on to find out the reasons behind the Tigers' failure.
There can be a lot of heated debate, but there is no straightforward answer that will tell us why Bangladesh could not play anywhere close to the standard required for competence on the global stage. The problems are complex and multi-faceted but we may not have the kind of management that can really get the answers and accordingly solve the problem with a long-term plan.
But the topic dominating all discussion now is Shakib Al Hasan's explanations behind the team's recent failures. The all-rounder's interview with the Daily Prothom-Alo created a stir. Readers who went through the whole interview got to read about many problems which have been identified time and again over the years but as a whole the interview was replete with comments that can at best be seen to have been said in bad taste, especially coming from a cricketer of Shakib's stature.
If cricket is a gentleman's game then Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez gave a demonstration of it on Tuesday night after his team's defeat to West Indies. It was one bad game which knocked them out but he still had to face some bitter questions from his home journalists. Hafeez however did not hesitate to apologise to his countrymen for their failure. The hero of the match Dwayne Bravo was more appealing when he said that all their efforts are for the fans.
How fantastic it would have been if Shakib said sorry to the passionate supporters for the defeat against Hong Kong, even if he was not courageous enough to say it for the dismal show in the entire tournament? He was not even ready to simply say sorry for his recent off-field unsavoury act.  Modesty is probably the last word that will come to mind when you think of Shakib Al Hasan.
Some may have laughed at his revisionism regarding Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup success, poked fun at his disclosure of requiring Tk 25,000 for one dinner but serious questions are bound to be raised about his professional approach when he cited the people's expectations, the journalists' reporting and board's pressure as the reason behind his team's poor showing.
"It would be best to play outside the country. There should not be any cricket at home for two years,” added the country's richest player.
Where was the crippling pressure? Who had actually expected Bangladesh to play the semifinal or final? Where was it written? And if a modern player finds the pressure from fans or media unbearable then it will perhaps be better for him to quit the field and make way for others who can handle it. And to say that the team would be better off playing away from home is an insult to the tirelessly patient Bangladesh supporter. It is also a laughable suggestion because most of the Tigers' successes have come at home.
Perhaps the most audacious of his statements was that he, being a nationally contracted player, cast aspersions on the competence of his coaches. This interview is the latest in a series of disrespectful actions from the country's premier cricketer and sets a bad example for his younger teammates.
Shakib perhaps crossed the line when he said 'if you are talking about patriotism a lot of people in Bangladesh do not have that'. The young man may not have had the time, so quick was his rise to celebrity, to look deep into the environment that surrounds him.
One can only imagine the mood in a dressing room when a senior player not only thinks in such a way, but does not hesitate to broadcast it on a national platform in the middle of a tournament.