The Bangladeshi tigers, given their talent and potential, did not deserve such an ignominious defeat. They are certainly a young, talented team with potential. At the moment, there is probably no other team in the international arena, with an average age of 23, as talented and promising as the Bangladeshi team.

Not many countries in the world of present day cricket have as many young, talented and courageous players, like Ashraf, Aftab, Shakib, Mashrafee, Shahadat and Rajjak, as we have in the Bangladesh team.

What they need are training facilities, proper guidance, and nurturing by a group of competent and knowledgeable persons at the helm of the affairs. Because they are young, they are restless and impatient.

It is for the seniors to help them master the art of playing a test match, which is all about talent, technique, temperament and concentration. They have the talent, but are not learning the techniques quickly. They need to master the other two qualities -- temperament and concentration -- sooner rather than later.

If anybody is to be blamed for the miserable performance in the recent test series against India, especially in the second test, it is firstly those who had decided to keep Habibul Bashar Sumon in the team after his continuously poor performance, first in the West Indies series and then in the world cup.

Secondly those who, in extremely sultry weather and on a batting-friendly pitch, decided to field first after winning the toss. No body having even a minimum level of common sense, let alone a cricketing brain, could have taken such a suicidal decision. No wonder Indian captain Rahul Dravid was taken by surprise when skipper Habibul Bashar decided to field first after winning the toss.

The consequence of that stupid decision was instantly visible. After fielding for a long one and a three quarters days in scorching sun, when the tigers came out to bat, chasing a huge score of 610 for 3 dec., they looked like dehydrated mice with no strength to open their eyes or move their feet. They quickly lost 4 wickets for only 7 runs. The rest was a foregone conclusion.

I remember Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, while commenting on the performance on Sujan the then skipper of the Bangladesh team, saying: "Sujan is not bowling, he comes to bat at number 8 or 9 because of his poor form. Why is he then in the team? Is he there only to be a captain?"

The same question may probably be asked about Sumon. He is not a bowler. Nor is he great fielder. Once he was certainly a fascinating batsman. If we go by the statistics, he is still the highest run scorer for Bangladesh.

But now, at least for the last one year, he has been out of form. Why was he then in the team in the present series against a powerful team like India? Is it only to be a skipper? As a skipper also, I would say that he has been more prominent because of lack of dynamism, ingenuity and innovative ideas, not to mention his poor and irresponsible batting. I am sorry to say, in the field he resembled an absent-minded professor more than a cricket captain.

A question may be asked of the selectors of the Bangladesh cricket team as to why Javed Omar Bellim was included in the ODI team in the recent series. Bangladesh is no longer a minnow, able to play a full 50-over quota and then going down in the record as the loser.

In the one-day version you either lose or win, there is nothing in-between. What is the point of hanging around at the wicket, as Javed Omar usually does, to face 60-70 balls for only for 20 or 30 odd runs in the name of giving a solid foundation if, in the end, you lose the match? Bangladesh is now certainly in a position to win an ODI against any team in the world on a particular day. That they are not consistent in their performance is a different matter.

We see in newspaper reports that Habibul Bashar Suman has decided to step down from the captaincy of the Bangladesh ODI team. He has taken the right decision. He should, in fact, step down from captaincy of both the versions -- test and ODI -- and work hard for a place in the team as a batsman purely on the basis of his batting performance.

I believe he can still be a thrilling batsman and make significant contributions, especially in the one-day matches. With due respect to his contributions to Bangladesh cricket, I must say that it is probably time for Javed Omar Belim to retire from international cricket, and look for a place in the management or some other cricket related field.

Capt. Husain Imam is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.