Lack of top-tier stars laid bare

In a recent interview with The Daily Star, England’s World Cup-winning all-rounder Moeen Ali had said that while Bangladesh currently have several good cricketers, the country is lacking genuine top-tier performers.

Interestingly, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) appeared to have echoed the same sentiment on Thursday, when it announced a 28-member national players’ contract list for 2026 but left the highest Grade, A+, vacant.

Last year, Taskin Ahmed was the sole cricketer in the top bracket, earning Tk 10 lakh per month. However, he is now believed to be unavailable across all formats due to fitness issues and thus, has been moved down to Grade A this year alongside the captains in three formats -- Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto.

Former Bangladesh skipper and current national team batting coach Mohammad Ashraful believed the absence of multi-format regulars may have influenced the board’s decision to leave the A+ category vacant.

“To be in A+, you have to be the best performer across all formats, right? At the moment, none of our players are playing all formats regularly. Litton is not consistent in ODIs, Shanto is not in the T20 team, and Miraz is also out of T20Is. Similarly, Taskin is not currently part of the Test side,” he said.

In the heydays of the ‘Fab Five’ in Bangladesh cricket, the Tigers had a core set of players who would feature across formats.

Three of the five have already retired. All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who has shown interest to return but his future with the Bangladesh team is still clouded with uncertainty, has been left out of the national contract for the second consecutive year.

Mushfiqur Rahim -- who now only plays Tests -- is the only one of the ‘Fab Five’ to get a deal in the latest contracts, being placed in Grade B alongside 10 others.

The 2026 national contract is another reflection of how the current crop of players have thus far failed to ascend to the levels of Shakib or Tamim Iqbal, something Moeen had spoken about at length in his interview in January.

“Initially, I saw Bangladesh evolving nicely with players like Tamim and Shakib, but I also feel it has not improved enough recently. While there are many good players now, there are no top players,” Moeen told The Daily Star during his stint with the Sylhet Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

“The current players seem to be struggling, perhaps due to coaching, facilities, or the system. In the BPL, some of the shot selection is very poor. The problem is that people have become used to seeing the same mistakes repeatedly. I have been here for a few seasons and I still see the same errors. It feels like the players are slow at learning,” he added.