Local clubs once gave lifeblood to Bangladesh cricket, but not anymore. A bunch of young talents used to emerge from these clubs to come into the reckoning for bigger things like playing for the national team and the A-team.

But these clubs have lost their sheen over time. Their functions of nurturing and supplying young talents to national cricket have come to a halt.

The creation of the Bangladesh Krira Dhikkha Protishtan (BKSP) and the introduction of structured age-group cricket by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have deprived the clubs of their past glory.

Private cricket academies have been added to the joint venture of the BCB and the BKSP as the board has recently taken an initiative to bring all cricket academies under a single platform to locate and nurture future talents.

The BKSP, a national sports institution built by the government in 1986, still remains the primary source for young cricketers. It has enlivened the country’s sporting scenario by nurturing quality athletes including cricketers.

It scouts potential talents through a talent hunt programme across the country. Iconic all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim along with Mashrsfe Bin Mortaza and Rokibul Hasan were found out from talent hunt. Later Mashrafe didn't admit to BKSP.

After being located, these talents are groomed under utmost care of the BKSP. They also get formal education as part of their overall grooming.

Among these young cricketers, there are some who break into BCB age-group cricket teams and remain under the radar of the board. They can avail of modern and developed facilities. They also get the benefits of quality coaching that help them ease towards the national team.

But those who do not get a chance to play in age-group teams often find it harder to steal the limelight. They’ve to work even harder to make the grades. Of them, some cannot manage to make it to the BCB teams nor any club teams. They’ve to switch their priorities and join other jobs.

Considering this system, some have pointed out that a number of cricketers from the BKSP cannot play for the national team or become established players even at the club level.

Montu Dutta, the head cricket coach at the BKSP, however, thinks otherwise. He said they helped young talents to become players in the national team.

“We’ve U-14, U-16 and U-18 teams for age-group cricketers who play national and international tournaments for the BKSP on a regular basis. In the domestic circuit, they play against divisional teams and get success in national tournaments,” he added.

“We’ve teams for senior players (Team-1 and Team-2) that got promoted to the Premier Division from the First Division last year. Even our players are playing for clubs at different levels. We’ve left no stone unturned to keep engaged them in cricket,” he told The Independent.

“Naimur Rahman Durjoy, the first Test captain of Bangladesh, was BKSP’s  student. Currently, we've eight players in the national team. They’re: Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Mominul Haque, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Nazmul Islam Opu and Ariful Haque. Some others are in the 30-man national pool—Anamul Haque Bijoy, Nasir Hossain, Shafiul Islam and Tanvir Haider. Besides, Abdur Razzak, Nayeem Islam, Suhrawardi Shuvo, Shahdat Hossain, Mosharraf Hossain and Shamsur Rahman are performing in domestic cricket. Zakir Hasan, Afif Hossain, Shamim Patwari, Akbar Ali, Mahmudul Hasan and Nabil Ahmed are players for the future. Afif and Zakir may explode onto the national scene any time,” he said.

Dutta said that the current director general (DG) of the BKSP, Brig. Gen. Anisur Rahman, prepared a comprehensive plan under which they would soon appoint high-quality foreign coaches, physios and trainers.

“The demand for cricket among the BKSP’s 17 disciplines is more than the other disciplines. We've have a total 143 seats, out of 304, for boys and girls in Dhaka. Of them, 80 male and female students were in the BKSP last year—around 60 seats remained vacant. But admission to the BKSP depends on how many seats remain vacant in a year,” Dutta informed The Independent.

He said they had already taken some effective measures to develop women’s cricket in the country.

“A 10-storey complex for women scouts is being built. This will increase the number of women cricketers further. Six to seven cricketers from the BKSP now plays for the national team,” he added.