Long-term vision still impaired

Russel Domingo's vision of a long-term plan played a big part in his appointment as Bangladesh's head coach after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) parted ways with Steve Rhodes following an eighth-placed finish at the 2019 ICC World Cup.

During the early days, the South African heightened expectations from fans and the BCB when he would speak about a willingness to develop a good cricketing culture by putting more emphasis on Test cricket.

Although a halt in activities for the majority of 2020 may make it premature to judge the Tigers' dismal performances under Domingo, questions have been bubbling up about how the South African is approaching the task of improving Bangladesh in the long run.

Just before Domingo took up his role, Bangladesh suffered a humiliating 224-run defeat to the newest Test-playing nation, Afghanistan, on home soil in September 2019.

That huge shock was followed by crushing defeats in the two-match Test series in India and the three-match T20I series, although the visitors won the first of the T20Is.

The Tigers then travelled to Pakistan in January, 2020 and their inability to perform away from home against tougher opponents continued. They lost the first Test comprehensively by an innings and 44 runs.

Bangladesh also lost both T20Is against Pakistan before returning home and getting back to winning ways in all three formats against relatively weak opponents Zimbabwe in March just before the pandemic forced sport to shut down.

Although Domingo had enough time during the lockdown to chalk out his long-term plans before Bangladesh returned to international cricket, it was not reflected on the field.

On many occasions, the team management's decisions regarding the selection of the playing eleven, exploiting home conditions or the pitch and even approach while playing abroad has been questionable.

Bangladesh did win a three-match ODI series against the West Indies on their return to international cricket in January this year but the whitewash against a relatively inexperienced Caribbean side in the two-match Test series once again brought Domingo's long-term planning under the microscope.

Interestingly, the South African stated that he would be willing to give pacers more exposure but performed a U-turn, with the Tigers fielding just one specialist seamer in both Tests against the West Indies, raising many eyebrows, including those of board president Nazmul Hassan.

Bangladesh went to New Zealand with the aim to re-write history and win a first-ever international against the hosts. But after the disappointing show, will Domingo hold the players accountable for their poor performances? Or will he still be able to justify backing the players in the media?

The 46-year-old's long-term plan has still not seemingly accounted for moulding replacements for the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad in the future.

Is there actually a long-term plan to prepare a new lot of cricketers for the future? The South African will be accountable for that question by the BCB if things continue in the same manner for the Tigers.