WT20: Why should Bangladesh play in a qualifying round ?

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by abherath
If I asked this question a few weeks back, many would have rushed to defend the silly decision by the ICC to make Bangladesh - the host nation of all - play in a qualifying round. Looking at how the Tigers have gone past Afghanistan and Nepal almost without so much as batting an eyelid, it is clear that the Tigers should have gone into the main draw of the tourney straight away.

Putting the results to date in this WorldT20 qualifying round aside, one could see a clear difference in the approach and the style of play between the Tigers and the opposition they have unfortunately been pitted against. The Tigers have been clinical (except for some silly comments / antics of Mushfiq, Shakib and and a few others) while the opposition have been like amateurs with some flashes of brilliance.

In the recent Big3 proposals, some were arrogant enough to suggest that the three nations concerned should be immune from relegation in the now abandoned - thank god for that - test championship. If the ICC was not averse to that, it should not have been too much to ask for to have the Tigers in the main draw of the World T20 championship as they are the hosts of the tourney. The fact that Bangladesh is a test playing nation could have been another argument in support of this but then Zimbabwe, in their present unfortunate state, flatten this point of contention.

Looking at this from another angle, crowd support is very important for the success of a tournament and unarguably, Bangladesh has the best and the "craziest" fan base in the cricketing world. Just imagine the Tigers suffering one upset loss - very likely in a T20 - costing them a place in the final draw. That would result is a severe drop in crowd support at the business end of the tournament.

The ICC could have had just one slot in the final draw for a qualifier from among associate nations and Zimbabwe put together. (Once again Zimbabwe stick up like a sore thumb to almost flatten the point I am trying to make, as they are a test playing nation. It is unfortunate to see the state of their cricket caused by internal strife. Zimbabwe used to have great sides with the likes of the Flower Brothers, Andy Pycroft, Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Eddo Brandes, Graeme Hick, Henry Olonga, Tatenda Taibu etc. in them. That is another story, anyway.)

One could argue against the point I am making, referring to the recent defeat of Bangladesh by Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. That was obviously an exception and one cannot draw conclusions based on same. Bangladesh beating West Indies and New Zealand in ODI series (albeit the oppositions being weak at the time due to various reasons), their reaching the final of an Asia Cup, stretching No. 1 ranked Sri Lanka to the limit and the last ball in the recent head to head T20s - the list goes on - are clear examples that Bangladesh belong in the "big league".

The ICC is clearly being unfair with Bangladesh. (As a Sri Lankan, I think we would have been served with the same spoon for long if not for that great captain Arjuna Ranatunga turning tables on the so called big guns, handing heavy defeats to them both on and off the field. Sri Lanka winning the World Cup silenced the last critics, with mud in their faces and something elsewhere both of which I cannot mention in this august forum.)

The Tigers, for their part, have put themselves down too, at times; for example, by talking of "revenge" against Afghanistan, exaggerated celebrations after killing a fly etc. They should focus on who they are and what they could do and the rest of it will fall into place.

Just one other complaint I have against the Tigers, especially their present captain, is the knack for letting their opposition out of jail, in order to snatch defeat (gleefully ?) from the jaws of victory. Do those Tigers derive some masochistic pleasure out of doing that ?

I wish the Tigers good luck.

wonderfully said.

The main problem is BCB - how come BCB agreed to play in the qualifying round in the first place??

And whoever saying being in the qualifying round is a good thing due to match practice is missing the point of op.
Now that we are stuck with the decision to play associates, we are trying to find honour in it ...seeing as match practice.

[Zunaid]

Now a front page article:

WT20: Why should Bangladesh play in the qualifying round?
Ananda Herath

Our Sri Lankan well-wisher asks the same question we at BanglaCricket.com have been asking for a while. Why on earth should Bangladesh be playing in a qualifying round with other associates to make it to the final round of the World T20 they are hosting?

Read article »

[kalpurush]

A deserving FP article.

[Tehsin]

Guys, missing the big picture here. Why would ICC bother the big eight with playing the associates or even Zimbabwe or Ireland? Better option, let them play each other and the two "lowly" test sides that the BIG would rather scrap. Best of both worlds. They are giving the associates exposure (1 match against a low ranked test side is HARDLY exposure) on paper and they are making sure IF A the top 8 does have to play an outsider, it's either the 9/10 or the best associate that survives the cut. Good on Ireland.

I would have preferred an expanded tournament that allowed the associates to play at least 2 or more matches. They don't get these chances often.

Here is the thing about rankings. Anyone know how many T20 Bangladesh has played in the past 3 years? Where is BCB? Where is ICC? We played less T20 then Afg and Ireland. That is a failure, primarily for BCB. You'd think BD would at least play 15-20 T20s yearly because it's a game that could be played twice in a day. Not that I'm suggesting that. (Unless that's the only way we can get the big guys to pencil us in in their BUSY IPL, errrr I mean, international schedule)

[horizon]

ICC doesn't run as FIFA does ... ICC is more of a member's club and FIFA is more of an Admin organization. ICC tries to extract most of the revenue from their tournaments and in a way plays puppet to the sponsors.
The qualifiers are fair, as long as the basics are adhered to. If big three drops in ranking, they also should play the qualifier. But I'm afraid, that won't happen. The ranking system looks like a joke, mostly because it doesn't take care of conditions. So, a better seeding system like we get in Tennis should replace this awkward ranking system. In Tennis the players seeded in Wimbledon based on previous grass court performance and results in previous similar tournaments. I believe that will make a fairer call.

The channel for Associates, is getting closed day by day. I think Ireland should have got their Test status by now but the criteria laid out by new proposal will probably make it tough for them. I am still hopeful that they'll get it by 2023.

BTW, this is not the first tournament where ICC is having a qualifier with the tournament. I saw it in ICC Champions' trophy a few times.

[horizon]

Originally Posted by Tehsin
Guys, missing the big picture here. Why would ICC bother the big eight with playing the associates or even Zimbabwe or Ireland? Better option, let them play each other and the two "lowly" test sides that the BIG would rather scrap. Best of both worlds. They are giving the associates exposure (1 match against a low ranked test side is HARDLY exposure) on paper and they are making sure IF A the top 8 does have to play an outsider, it's either the 9/10 or the best associate that survives the cut. Good on Ireland.

Totally agree. If ICC wants to make this model successful, they should let at least bottom 4 teams play in qualifiers ...

[Tigers_eye]

Welcome back first.
Thanks Herath.
+++
The reasoning is simple. We, Zim are behind an associate in rankings. Thus to justify our inclusion more like their exclusion, we have to play in. Plus this also gives the associate a claim that they played in WC event. What an eye wash.

10 nation tournament I do not like. But this was written all over the WALL after 2007 when it was 16. India getting knocked out by BD, Pak getting knocked out by Ireland - WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. So a 16 or 12 team format with 4 divisions was out of the equation as well. ICC money grabbing events must have eyeballs to get their sponsors worth. Thus to ensure, the format was changed to 10. If you have 7 or 6 teams in two groups then there would be too many games and the tournament would be long.

I just await for that day when a team like England would get down to #9. I would love to see them play in as well (most likely we both know the format would be changed again to accomodate their presence).

[Tigers_eye]

This is the reason we have to play in. Images from BD - Bermuda game.

[al-Sagar]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye


This is the reason we have to play in. Images from BD - Bermuda game.

great memories reloaded

[horizon]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
WelcoWALL after 2007 when it was 16. India getting knocked out by BD, Pak getting knocked out by Ireland - WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. So a 16 or 12 team format with 4 divisions was out of the equation as well. .

This can definitely happen again. Ireland and Bangladesh are going to first round post qualifiers. They can certainly knock out a team or two.

[Rifat]

Fantastic article Herath

This point resonated with me the most:

The Tigers, for their part, have put themselves down too, at times; for example, by talking of "revenge" against Afghanistan, exaggerated celebrations after killing a fly etc. They should focus on who they are and what they could do and the rest of it will fall into place.

[Night_wolf]

This is why BD should not play qualifying round

They should Play Qualifier qualifying round along with other associates

[mr cricket]

This tournament will be a big flop if the host goes out early.

ICC is so stupid for making the host play the qualifiers.

[Shade]

And Boom , that's why.

[criclife]

now you got ur answer?

[Eshen]

Please take that front page article off

[Maysun]

FP article. :S

[betaar]

Feel sorry for OP. Lightning does strike twice or more.........

[Tehsin]

Okay. The team just collectively SHUT US UP. ICC and Paposh just won that argument against all us blind BD fans.

[meazz1]

Only reasons I say we should play in the super 10 , qualifying rounds to give other teams chance at breaking and making records.
We should also play to humiliate our nation in the world arena.

[Naimul_Hd]

Phewww ! That was close. We spoke too soon, it seems

[hoodlum]

We should always play qualifying tournaments. Even in the 50 over format.

[adamnsu]

I think Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should loose their full icc membership and give Ireland and another team a chance. And it should be on a rotating basis after every 2 years. So if these 2 can't perform the next best 2 get a chance

[Eshen]

After the recent events, it's quite reasonable to demand Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to play in intercontinental cup and qualifiers for ODI/T20I WCs.

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by adamnsu
I think Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should loose their full icc membership and give Ireland and another team a chance. And it should be on a rotating basis after every 2 years. So if these 2 can't perform the next best 2 get a chance

I am just overlooking this post with some others...

You are judging a passionate cricket nation just on the basis of one T20 defeat?

Bangladesh is in the final round now, why should Bangladesh be stripped of full membership? We are Group-A champion, don't we??