Mohammad Ashraful, a former captain of Bangladesh, is worried about the level of domestic cricket and says it's to blame for the team's problems in foreign events.  After Bangladesh lost to New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy, Ashraful spoke out against the level of bowling in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and the country's ability to handle high-quality spin.

In an interview with BDCricTime, Ashraful shot down the idea that Bangladesh is very good at facing spin bowlers. He stated that the team has historically struggled against world-class spinners, citing examples from his playing days, “Many fans think we are good against spin, but that’s not true. Even in my time, we had a tough time against quality spinners like Daniel Vettori, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Shane Warne. Vettori would take 18 wickets in a two-match Test series, while Murali would pick up 20-22 wickets. If the pitch doesn’t favor batting, our batters find it difficult.”

Ashraful also pointed out that New Zealand’s spinners were superior to Bangladesh’s own spinners, including Rishad Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, “New Zealand’s spinners were more accurate, had better variations, and bowled with better control. Our batters showed them too much respect.”

Ashraful criticized the BPL’s lack of quality foreign players and weak bowling attacks, saying that Bangladesh’s players were not adequately prepared for the challenges of the Champions Trophy. “The bowling standard in the last BPL was poor. Each team had only about three quality bowlers. The rest were so inconsistent that batters could easily score by just waiting for bad deliveries. That didn’t prepare our players well for international cricket.”

Recently, another former Bangladesh cricketer, Mohammad Mithun, also voiced similar concerns, stating that domestic cricket has been declining for years.

According to Ashraful, poor scheduling has negatively impacted tournaments like the Dhaka Premier League (DPL) and National Cricket League (NCL). “We used to play ODI cricket well because DPL was strong and happened at the right time. But for the last 5-7 years, DPL has been scheduled during Ramadan, making it difficult for players to perform at their best in extreme heat.”

He further added, “For the past few years, List A cricket in Bangladesh has been on the decline. BPL has not attracted high-quality foreign players for the last 4-5 years. NCL matches are frequently disrupted by rain, and since some venues like Bogura and Cox’s Bazar become unplayable after a single day of rain, we lose multiple matches every season. The cricket calendar is not well-structured, and that’s affecting player development.”