Saif Hasan and Nazmul Hossain Shanto are two cricketers whom the Bangladesh Cricket Board has raised through every possible understudy level and yet they have failed to deliver in the international arena.
Both Saif and Shanto were part of the Under-19 team of Bangladesh that finished third in the 2016 U-19 World Cup.
The BCB officials were very optimistic about these two young cricketers as they regularly included them in various understudy tours and installed the leadership role.
Shanto led the Bangladesh team in the Emerging Asia Cup, Bangladesh Emerging team's home series against the Sri Lanka 'A' team and the South Asian Games Cricket in 2019.
Saif was also appointed captain of the Bangladesh Emerging team against Ireland Wolves, where he registered a century and scored a decent amount of runs against the visitors.
These two batsmen also have decent experience in first-class cricket but have failed to convert that at the international level.
Saif has played four Tests so far, scoring only 84 runs from seven innings with the highest score of 34. He also got out for 0 in the first innings against Zimbabwe in Harare on Wednesday.
Shanto is a classic example of 'pipeline' as he was nurtured through every possible level for the future. But he is yet to fire regularly after making his accidental Test debut in 2017.
Spotted by the age-group scouts from school cricket level, Shanto represented Bangladesh in U-17 and U-19 level where he played two youth World Cups and later played in the Emerging team and the `A’ team.
But Shanto has failed to live up to the expectations. He has been puzzled by all three formats to find his forte which is not helping him. After a shaky start, Shanto’s Test career was looking promising as he hit his maiden hundred. But after that, he was dismissed without scoring in two innings in a row which might fracture his confidence.
And against Zimbabwe in the first innings, he also put the team in trouble by edging one outgoing delivery from Blessing Muzarabani to the third slip where Dion Myers was waiting.
Their contemporary cricketers like Kyle Jamieson, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Shreyas Iyer and even Mahedy Hasan Miraz has established themselves in their respective national teams. But Saif and Shanto are yet to settle themselves in despite having patronage from the board.
Khaled Masud Pilot, a former national captain who is also from Shanto’s hometown Rajshahi, wants to ask the question to the BCB officials when The Business Post asked him to find what was wrong with Shanto.
"When he came to our academy, he was a very good batsman. But after he went under BCB’s guidance, he played in various teams under various coaches. Ask this question to them, why he is failing?" he told TBP.
Saif’s childhood coach, Jehad Hossain, told TBP that Saif is getting confused and has lost his originality.
"I have coached him from a very early level, but later on, he went on to play in various teams under the BCB or in the Premier League or National league where he played under many coaches. I think he has started listening to everyone and got confused and lost his originality," said Jehad.
"Some say he has problems with his footwork, some say he has problems with his back-lift. I think he is taking too many suggestions. Another thing is, in local cricket someone hardly bowls at 140 KPH. But at the international level, you must face that pace. So against faster pace, his weaknesses get exposed," Jehad added.
