Cook in the line of fire!

Ryan Cook, the fielding coach of Bangladesh national team, is on the line of fire as the pathetic display of poor fielding by the Tigers continues in the ICC T20 World Cup.

Dropping catches is nothing new for Bangladesh, which most of time is blanketed as “part of the game”, but these cricketers often forget that catching the ball is also an important part of the game as well.

Early in this year, Bangladesh team travelled to New Zealand to play three one day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals where they dropped a good number of chances.

After coming back, rookie cricketer Nasum Ahmed told the media that clearer sky made it difficult to take catches.

Against Oman, skipper Mahmudullah dropped Jatinder Singh’s catch when he was on 10, later on he added 30 more runs before being dismissed.

Shakib Al Hasan, one of the most experienced cricketers in the world now-a-days, also came up with a funny excuse.

“Holding a catch at night is difficult because the light is low and when the ball goes over the light it becomes difficult to keep an eye on the ball and there is another thing that the ball seems to travel fast. We cannot give excuses as we have done enough training here so we should be used to it,” he said after the match.

Liton Das dropped two crucial catches against Sri Lanka which ultimately cost the match for Bangladesh but Mushfiq being one of the most senior cricketers of the team rather termed him as one of the best fielders of the team.

“Our mistakes were the two dropped catches of Liton despite the fact that he is a very good fielder and it could have been a different story if it was me as he is a better fielder,” said Mushfiq after the match.

Afif Hossain is also regarded as one of the brilliant fielders, he also dropped Jason Holder during the match against West Indies who slammed two sixes in the last over against Mustafizur Rahman and took the game away from the Tigers.

Another young cricketer, Mahedi Hasan also dropped few catches so far in this tournament.

Former captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza raised the question regarding the inputs from the fielding coach Ryan Cook, who is serving in this role since July 2018.

“Does anyone ask the fielding coach what he is doing? Is this the first time Bangladesh dropped catches? After the 2019 World Cup, almost all the members of coaching staff got sacked but he survived. Have we become the best fielding side with him on the team?” he wrote in his Facebook profile.

Selector Habibul Bashar has also expressed his disgust for the fielding coach’s effort.

“You can have a bad day in batting or bowling, but we have to be consistent in our fielding. It becomes more pertinent in big tournaments. Misfielding ruins the team’s tempo. We are a better fielding side, but I really want to see a lot of improvement in this area,” said Habibul.

“We do a lot of fielding during training. When we play at home or in a big tournament, it is important to handle the psychological pressure. I think we miss out on (handling) that pressure. Some of our best fielders dropped the catches. We have to work on how to handle pressure moments, and take important catches in these moments”, he added.

Former coach and present BKSP Cricket Advisor Nazmul Abedeen Fahim believes that the players are thinking too much which is putting a negative impact on their performance.

“I think the players are thinking too much about the catch when a ball goes up. Generally, Afif and Mahedi are good fielders. But they must be thinking about what happens if I miss, the reaction and many other negative things,” he told The Business Post.

He also said that the coach cannot avoid the responsibility.

“The pressure will be there. The coach must carry on one-to-one sessions with the players. But as we see, the coaches just come few days before the series and work with the group, not with individuals. So, the coach cannot avoid the responsibility of the fall of performances.” said Nazmul.