Cricketers fuming after Salahuddin’s ‘brainless’ remark

“How could sir say this!”– a cricketer stunned by Comilla Victorians coach Mohammad Salahuddin’s statement had this to say.

Almost every local cricketer addresses Comilla coach Mohammad Salahuddin as ‘sir’. Salahuddin, a former assistant coach of the national team, has heavily criticised local cricketers a number of times during the ongoing BPL. He has questioned their basic cricketing knowledge.

As per Salahuddin’s assessment, local cricketers ‘don’t have common sense’ and majority of the cricketers ‘don’t use their brains’.

Many of the cricketers were crestfallen hearing such scathing comments from the coach while many are waiting to hear a detailed explanation from Salahuddin.

One of those cricketers said, “I couldn’t quite understand what sir was trying to say. I think he was talking about a specific moment of the match. But it wasn’t clear from what he said.”

Another cricketer had this to say to Salahuddin, “Such comments are not expected. I was really surprised. Each cricketer responds differently to different match situations. This happens due to the difference of skill level. If he keeps talking like this, at one point cricketers will also start pointing fingers at the coaches. Because the coaches are the ones who have nurtured the cricketers.”

In BPL, usually overseas players emerge as the top performers in every team. But this year, the scene is different. Four out of the top five run-getters are local cricketers, two local bowlers are listed in the top five highest wicket-takers list.

A national team cricketer brought up this very point while responding to Salahuddin’s comment.

“Most probably, he said this about the local cricketers performance in the running BPL. But this time the locals are doing well! More or less all of the batsmen have done well. This didn’t happen in the past. Many new pacers have also emerged. They are also doing well.”

Fortune Barishal’s coach Nazmul Abedin also disagreed with Salahuddin’s comments, “I think he said this out of frustration. I’m certain that the situation is not like how he said it.”

Nazmul also agreed that the coaches are also responsible for the lack of cricketing common sense in the cricketers.

“It’s true that we don’t pay enough attention to what sits above the shoulders of cricketers. We are only focused on making them physically fit and improve their skills. We don’t try to teach them about the mental skill aspect of the game, teach them to be confident, gain the ability to take good decisions and nurture leadership quality. Because of it, they fail to take a decision on crucial moments.”