Bangladesh A on away tour after four years

Bangladesh A team will play an away series after almost four years as Mohammad Mithun and his men will embark on their journey to the Caribbeans on Friday night to play two four-day matches and three 50-over matches in St Lucia.

This will be the first away series for Bangladesh A after their Sri Lanka tour in 2019, where the unofficial Test series ended in stalemate, and they clinched the three-match One-Day series 2-1.

Mohammad Mithun will lead the side against West Indies A team in both formats. Selector Abdur Razzak will accompany the team as the manager with Mizaanur Rahman as the coach.

In a press conference held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Thursday, both the captain and the coach said they want to uphold the dignity of representing Bangladesh while Razzak said he will be watching the players closely for future consideration.

The situation is a bit like adding the cart before the horse as the Bangladesh national team toured West Indies recently, where they received a heavy beating in the Tests and Twenty20 Internationals. A simultaneously conducted tour of the A team or beforehand could make things easier for the cricketers, which was the initial plan said Razzak.

“We initially planned for a big squad with the national team and the A team to travel together in the West Indies. But Cricket West Indies was not ready to host two teams together. Therefore, we have to defer the A team tour. Initially, we planned to have both teams there so that we can interchange cricketers,” Razzak said on Thursday.

The A team works as a bridge between domestic and international cricket for emerging players, but in the last few years, the number of tours for the understudy team has been getting smaller. Razzak said it was happening because of less interest from the foreign cricket bodies.

“The reason behind fewer tours for the A team is less interest from the foreign cricket boards. It does not depend on our will only. We obviously want to tour as much as possible, but we have to see the ability of the host boards as well. We have to admit the reality,” said the former left-arm spinner.

Mithun had a good stint in the Bangladesh Cricket League, where he scored 468 runs and became the highest scorer, but that did not earn him a call in the national team. The right-handed batsman thinks the West Indies tour will give him a closer feel.

“The A team series carries more importance than domestic tournaments. I have played against the West Indies A team before. Those who are in the pipeline for the national team are drafted into the A team. They will be tough oppositions. Hopefully, we will have competitive matches and get a close enough feel of international cricket,” he said in the press conference.

Cricketers like Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman, who were part of the national team before but failed to hold their places, have been picked for the West Indies tour. Mithun said they were not in a race to make a comeback.

“We don’t have any competition among ourselves. We are not competitors. We will try to perform our best. I only keep track of my performance. I don’t see what someone else is doing,” he said.

Mithun was often trolled on social media for his poor showings and the batsman said he was tough enough to face those.

“If I could not handle the pressure of trolling or criticism, I am not tough enough to play cricket for Bangladesh. My only focus is playing better cricket. I don’t look other ways,” he told the media.