BD need stability. A stable domestic structure, a stable coaching structure, stable selectors. They need players who are picked at 20 to stay in the frame till their 30s, not just replaced halfway through. They need a core group.
And they are getting there now. They have a core group of players - Mushfiqur, Shakib, Tamim, Mahmadullah, Razzak, Mortaza, Rubel, Shahadat.
They have new, young talent coming up - Sunny, Gazi, Abul Hassan, Nasir Hossain.
They have competition for a few spots - Imrul Kayes, Nafees, Nazimuddin, Junaid Siddique for the opener/number 3, Naeem Islam, Jahurul Islam, Shuvagatom Hom and Raqibul Hasan for the middle order, Robiul Islam, Shaiful Islam for the seamer's spot. And they even have a T20 specialist in Ziaur Rahman.
They've even moved beyond Ashraful and have dropped him for good.
Progress is being made. They're moving in the right direction. They just need some time.
Hopefully by the time Tamim, Shakib, Rahim, Mahmadullah are in their 30s and experienced, they'll have a good group of players around them, and the side will be stable, strong and competitive. It's easy to forget that that lot are only aged 23, 25, 24 and 26 respectively.
They will also naturally have some limitations, which will need a massive overhaul in the coaching and domestic structure to overcome - the physical strength of their players, for one. The side is full of attacking strokemakers, but they don't have anyone around who can just muscle the ball over the boundary, no powerful big hitters like every other nation has (Yuvraj, Dhoni, Dilshan, Gayle, Watson, Wright, KP, Pollard, Perera, Morkel, De Villiers, etc etc). Ziaur Rahman and Mortaza are the closest they have to one. This means they do struggle to up the tempo on conditions that don't lend themselves to strokemaking. And then ofcourse, the lack of stamina could be one factor that hinders their players from making big 100s - guys like Cook, Dravid, Pujara, Clarke, Amla, etc. posses incredible stamina and fitness.
One of the reasons for this lack of physical edge could be genetics, the other could be the general developing-nation lifestlye, culture and diet of the Bangladesh, and another could be simply that most players are thrown into playing high level cricket when they are too young, and aren't well looked after in the off-seasons to ensure they train and develop this side of their cricket. Domestic cricket in BD is very unprofessional.
This also lends itself to the second problem, no pure pace bowlers. Which, as has been seen in this match, is hindering them. Their fastest is Rubel, and he can't match up to the pure quicks that again, so many teams have. India have struggled with this too. And for the same reasons. Dead pitches, intense cricket schedule, and no good coaching structure in place to look after the quicks as they develop.
And then finally, their is the issue of temperament. Lack of a winning culture, lack of focus, lack of grit, losing concentration, lack of consistency. This can be put down to inexperience, and a poor domestic structure. They need more 4 day games, they need a higher quality of domestic competition, and they need a culture that emphasizes more on picking sides with 4 bowlers 7 batsmen rather than having 3-4 allrounders (which allows sides to post high scores without needing big innings from the main batsmen, and allows a lot of bowlers to share the overs and increases the chance of one of them having a good day and running through a side, rather than emphasizing a bowling unit attacking as a team and building pressure on days which wickets don't come, rather than just rotating through bowlers till one hits a good rhythm).
But all this will improve with time.
