Shakib is the only decent player BD has produced. They still rely on him. Don't you think there is a woeful shortage of world-class talents in BD? Mominul started strong. Did well for a couple of years. He never went to the next level. They just reach a point and they don't grow after that. They need exposure. The county is one good option. It is a reflection of poor domestic structure. They have to convince BCCI to play matches against top Ranji Teams like Mumbai, Karnataka. Trust me it is very hard for foreign teams to beat some of the Indian domestic teams. They are battle-hardened. Even the all-time great Australia was on the mat against Mumbai Ranji Trophy team.
ATG Australia was on mat in a practice game - they were on mat against BD team in 2006 .... and normally, Asian teams used to start AUS tour at WACA against the reserves of Western Australia- some games ended in 3 days with hosts winning by innings.
The state that Indian cricket has reached is after almost 100 years of association of top level cricket, with the infrastructure built, a cricket culture developed and there is an established system .... we started playing proper FC cricket starting for 2008..... the reflection of Bangladesh domestic cricket should give much better picture actually within 10-12 years of journey - in that regard go back to even 80s, and try to see the reflection of Ranji trophy....
I actually think opposite - there is outstanding talents at junior level; but the system & infrastructure are not developed yet for them to be shifted into next level. And, BD is not a first world country that suddenly Govt will spend $1.2 bn for “cricket project”. It has to developed gradually - just about 15 years back, there was one ICC accredited stadium - that too shared with soccer..... something common with India of 1950s, when Eden Gardens was shared between cricket & soccer....
The biggest challenge is that this game is mastered through longer version, something is diminishing from works cricket - result is even established cricket forces like Pakistan, Srilanka, West Indies, Newzeland are falling behind - we didn’t even start there. Yes, you can say - why not in T20 then ... trust me, once this current crops of players developed from FC system retire, you’ll see where these teams head. Even in this series - take out Malik & Hafeez .....
Playing County/Shield cricket indeed will help, something Afghans are enjoying - but why should they allow our players to use & develop in their system? In last 12 months, England U19 has lost 9-10 games they played against BD U19 - 35 years back, I can bet at least 3-4 of these players would have ended with some sort of County contracts .... today, Counties are struggling to serve even their own players.
It has to be within our own resources and with our own budget - no free ride here. First part of that journey is to build a financially viable model, which they have established some what; next process is grass root level technical development- which is on going, third is development of infrastructure - which is extremely time consuming & costly, it’ll happen gradually. After all these, then you can expect BD team to compete at top level consistently - it took India 70 years to produce one Bumrah, why you think it’ll be so easy for us?