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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Bangladesh Cricket and Bangladesh Corporate

Today we would like to discuss about the Bangladesh Cricket Team and its similarities, differences with Bangladesh Corporate. My initial hypothesis is that the 'men eleven' from our Shonar Bangla are the samples of the universe of 150 million. We will talk about how the Bengal Tigers perform in the cricket field, how it has got implications in our boardroom performances, their fair chances of being a formidable cricket team in near future and how far/close is Bangladesh Corporate from being a powerhouse.


Our batting....is unreliable, inconsistent and shaky. Our services, products are to some extent, more or less, unreliable, inconsistent and shaky. Starting from GrameenPhone's frequent call drops to 'bhejal' in Beximco Pharma's medicines to grumpy, gloomy faced counter staffs at airports, hospitals, banks etc. reinforce the similarity that what we are offering to our consumers is not pure, not sincere, kothao na kothao golod thekei jay.


Our bowling....does not have pace and it hardly spins....so does our corporate strategy and marketing....for our kind but sad information, we are yet to market 'Brand Bangladesh' overseas due to numerous reasons. As our bowlers cannot offer variety in their bowling and wait eagerly for the opponent batsmen to make mistakes and get out, similarly we wait for 'that deal' to happen, rather than going out in the sun ourselves and grabbing it.


Our fielding....is full of energy and we have shown that we can dive sometimes to save a few boundaries. We also have seen that we are very bad at direct hits. Our young managers are full of energy and are willing to take risks too, if given enough support from the crowd, captain and team mates. However for some unknown reason, they are not very good at hitting at the stumps from a distance when it is needed the most.....to run out a batsman, to outsmart a competitor in the market.


Our Captains....are mere gentlemen and very nice human beings in nature (not sure about their cricketing skills). They are modest, timid, humble and it shows in the field from their body language. They prefer to pray, not play, so that either rain saves our face or the opponents gift us their wickets, but we hardly push them to the point where they are bound to give up. Our managers are, in general, more risk-averse than they are risk-takers. They prefer to be coached by 'foreign' mentors and follow by the book, they don't come up with something innovative and improvised when the match is on and we are already in the field.


Our team....is full of down to earth young lads, who are friendly and polite. Remember in Pakistan, when Rafique decided not to run out Umar Gul even when he was out of his crease. Our veteran bowler showed a gesture of good sportsmanship....and we finally lost that match too. I would love to be arrogant with foreign opponents when it is justified to be, rather than hanging around them with the 'ji hujur ji hujur' attitude! But unfortunately what we do is, show our arrogance to our own teammates, our own colleagues, which does not help us in the long run does it?


Our language...is improving....thanks to English lessons in British Council, Bashar does it pretty well, Ashraful is struggling but I am sure he would manage a 6 in IELTS in any case...but who cares...as long as he bats well...and does not continue his inconsistent talent. Bangladeshi executives better hone their English armours to face the media during the prize distribution ceremonies. We are not rich enough like the Japs or the Chinese so that our money would speak for us, so English...more English..and perhaps Chinese is the way out. Also I really admire Mashrafe and Shahadat's fiery glares to opponent batsmen, I hope someone would teach them some Bangla gaalis too to apply on the batsmen. Lets be aggressive and rude when and where it is fine to be, and lets not repeat a 'Rafique temper tantrum drama' during practice.


Our Test status....is under serious doubts....we did win a few challenging games against the big boys and we got carried away in jubilations and complacent hiccups. Our fairlytales are always short lived when we test our patience and temperament in test cricket. Some fireworks in one dayers might do the job for that day, but test cricket....infact cricket as a whole, is more a mind game rather than a body game. So fireworks don't even take us to the 4th days in test matches and we lose by an innings and 123 runs. Our management tactics better not be like our one day cricket. Management, is after all, an attitude...its a state of mind. We are playing test cricket when we want to manage. And when we are fighting for market share in our home ground, we have the home advantage, but do we realize that we are merely playing national division cricket there, we better gear up with our helmets (and groin guards) to play on foreign soils.


So the summary is that our Bengal Tigers are mere Tiger cubs now. But we can do it. We need to sharpen more our claws and jaws to grab a bigger piece of meat and market share, of our competitors, not of our team mates please. We want to be proud of you...Bangladesh Cricket...and Bangladesh Corporate.


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