Shakib Al Hasan has been Bangladesh's best performer in the past year © AFP

Rabeed Imam catches with up Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, who is now the No. 1 allrounder in the ICC ODI rankings. A few excerpts from the interview on tigercricket.com:

Tell us a bit about how it all began for you

Well I never really wanted to become a cricketer. It was only when I started touring and getting success that I thought this wasn’t too bad! I am a late starter and didn’t hold a proper cricket ball until I was about 14-15. I come from a sporting family. My father had represented Khulna Division in football and one of my cousins is also a Bangladesh international and it was only natural for me to kick the ball around and I had participated in many tournaments for boys under the height of 4 feet 10 inches. I used to play taped-tennis ball cricket in Magura and sometimes I would go into the villages with local kids to play matches on hire. It was during one of those games that I was spotted by Saddam Hossain, an umpire from our district and he asked me to come to the trial of his club team Islampur Para which played in the Magura League. I went to their nets and bowled pace for a while and then switched to spin and found that it was more effective. I was picked for the club straightaway.

..............................................

You see I am a very competitive person. For example, when Rocky (Raqibul Hasan) got the man of the match award in the second ODI against Zimbabwe I kept telling myself ‘Shakib, you moron, you could have been up there today. You blew your chance’. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy to see Raqibul, Mushfique, Mehrab (Hossain Jr), Tamim (Iqbal) and the others performing and I am so proud of them because we have grown up as cricketers together. For me the cricket ground is a place to show my worth. I go out to field as if I’m entering the boxing ring and there’s no place for the guy who comes second best there

In an editorial, the Daily Star congratulates Shakib on his achievement.

October 30, 2008

Bangladesh must go

Posted on 10/30/2008 in Bangladesh cricket

On sport24.co.za, Rob Houwing says he hopes Bangladesh's two-Test tour of South Africa will be their last series.

In 55 Test matches since their introduction to the arena in 2000, Bangladesh have won precisely one of them, a 2005 match against a Zimbabwe team already well on the slippery slope to turmoil and virtual ruin, in line with the nation itself.

Unlike Sri Lanka who, by the ninth year of their Test existence in 1991, lost just one of their six matches against New Zealand, England and Pakistan – a compelling here-to-stay signal – Bangladesh have made no such strides. They may well have lurched backwards.

.......................

I think Bangladesh have got to go, at least from a five-day point of view, as the most feasible ICC “itinerary uncluttering” solution.

It’s regrettable, but necessary in the new world order.

Perhaps the way ahead for them is to spiritedly put all their eggs in 20- and 50-overs baskets, aiming to become a more credible force in these formats?

September 24, 2008

A Bermuda triangle for Dhaka Warriors

Posted on 09/24/2008 in Bangladesh cricket

Aftab Ahmed, Tapash Baisya and Habibul Bashar, members of ICL's newest team, the Dhaka Warriors, were part of Bangladesh's historic win over Australia in Cardiff. In his Guardian blog Dileep Premachandran looks back at that match three years ago and the situation now where the players have been handed a ten-year ban by the Bangladesh board.

If Bangladesh's cricket administrators have their way, these players — Aftab is 23 and Baisya 25 — will disappear into a Bermuda Triangle-like void. The administrators are enthusiastic followers of the Indian board's zero-tolerance policy towards the ICL, and there have been noises from Dhaka in recent days about how the 10-year ban handed down to 13 players is in the "best interests of Bangladeshi cricket"... Little has been heard on the subject since, and it's a matter of shame that the biggest names in the sport haven't moved a muscle to come to the aid of their fellow professionals. Like certain footballers who are "horrified" at being offered contracts worth only $110,000 a week, they appear more than content to don the commercial greasepaint and sit on their millions.

September 15, 2008

ICL welcomes Bangladesh players

Posted on 09/15/2008 in Indian Cricket League

Six cricketers from Bangladesh have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and I think there is a message in it for the cricketing world, says Sandeep Patil in his column on cricketnext.com.

At the ICL we have always maintained that the intention has been to help needy cricketers, those cricketers who have not been given a proper stage for them to showcase their talent. We have never tried to prove any point to the International Cricket Council or the Board of Control for Cricket in India but have only extended a helping hand to cricketers in need.

Patil, who coaches the Mumbai Champs in the ICL, said it's high time the ICC and the BCCI took notice of it.

We lauded the Indian Premier League when it did well in its inaugural edition. After all, the IPL was also cricket but we have never sought any reactions from the IPL or the BCCI or the ICC. History, however, will document the fact that the IPL was born out of the immensely successful ICL. The initiative of launching this form of entertainment in cricket will always be credited to the ICL.

Also, do read our new ICL blog: Alternate Reality - Hemang Badani's diary.

March 25, 2008

Eight months on, where do Bangladesh stand?

Posted on 03/25/2008 in Bangladesh cricket

"A lot was expected when the present set up of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) took over eight months ago with a promise of a better future for the country's number one sport," writes Bishwajit Roy in the Daily Star. Unfortunately, nothing has transpired till today in translating that dream into reality.

March 16, 2008

Clown princes

Posted on 03/16/2008 in Bangladesh cricket

	Collective hara-kiri was given a new meaning as each batsman to a man devised newer and more ingenious methods of gifting wickets to the South African bowlers © AFP

Bangladesh lost both Tests and all three ODIs against South Africa and the Dhaka-based Daily Star's Shakil Kasem is convinced the team is fast approaching the status of Clown Princes.

Although, the captain and the team management spared no pains in informing anybody and everybody within earshot or to those who cared to listen anyway, that even 230 runs on the board would just about suffice to put the fear of god into the side batting second. This assertion was somewhat tempered by the time the second and third ODI came around, to how comfortable we were likely to be in the driver's seat if we just batted all of the 50 overs we were entitled to. The fact that in the end we could achieve neither only reinforced the belief that we are still struggling to perfect the art of chewing gum and crossing the street at the same time. Collective hara-kiri was given a new meaning as each batsman to a man devised newer and more ingenious methods of gifting wickets to the South African bowlers. Here is a group of returning tourists who are now firmly convinced Christmas in this part of the world comes twice a year. Here was oriental hospitality gone haywire for sure.

In the same paper, Mohammad Isam remembers young Manjural Islam who died in a motor accident last year.

Just two days before his death, he wanted to take me and a few other teammates for a walk around the lake to calm us down after our fifth successive loss but later we decided to have tea outside the Dhanmondi ground.

"Never ever bow down" and "Cricket ends with the day. Tomorrow is a new beginning" were just some of the words I recall from that day. But most of us, CCS players, knew that he was one of those cricketers who hated to lose but he was also one who recovered from a loss very fast and moved on.

September 3, 2007

Mama's advice works best

Posted on 09/03/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

	Nazimuddin is making a mark at the international level © TigerCricket.com

Nazimuddin, the latest star to emerge from Bangladesh, says that the tough training at a Under-19 pre-World Cup training camp helped him immensely as a cricketer, in an interview on TigerCricket.com.

“One day we were taken for an ice-bath at 7 in the morning. It was winter and I had never experienced anything like standing inside a drum with ice up to the neck. I thought why don’t they kill me instead."

However, Nazimuddin's mother had a part to play in ensuring he didn't give up.

“After the ice-bath there was another 40-minute ordeal at the swimming pool. When I got back to the dorm I called my mother on the phone and just asked her ‘You want to see your son alive or you want a cricket player?’ and she could hear me weeping. She paused for a few seconds and then said in a steely voice, ‘a son who is a cricket player’. I was so pissed that I did not call home for the next four weeks. Looking back I guess if she had played the typical mom and told me to come back home then I would never have gone on to play international cricket.”

July 25, 2007

Nothing much to cheer about

Posted on 07/25/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Just how much does cricket affect one's life? In Bangladesh, with its crippled economy and flood-ravaged countryside, cricket is a distraction from people's troubled lives. But the team's recent performance - losing the Test and one-day series in Sri Lanka - has added to the country's gloom. Mohammad Isam writes in the Daily Star that cricket more often than not played the role of a healer of real life sufferings of Bangladeshis and a good performance in Sri Lanka would have fitted in nice amidst all this because it is a feel-good factor for them.

Cricket and the people of Bangladesh have had a brilliant relationship since the days of the ICC Trophy triumph in 1997. It hit the roof when they beat Pakistan in 1999 and it hit an all-time high this World Cup. Over the last 10 years, the country hasn't had much reason, except cricket, to cheer about.

July 3, 2007

Interview with Richard McInnes

Posted on 07/03/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Richard McInnes is the favourite to land the job of a coach of Bangladesh. G.M Bashar, of Banglacricket,com, caught up with him.

I think the Bangladesh batsmen still need to master the art of building an innings, of getting to the other end when they are under pressure rather than swinging wildly, of batting as a pair better rather than two individuals, of staying positive even when defending or batting in tough conditions. This does not mean still scoring at a SR of 80+ but maintaining positive intent. I have watched several times when the Bangladeshi batsmen get in trouble they try and sit in the crease and hold the opposition out. It is really only a matter of time before they get out. You need to keep taking the game to the opposition but with calculated risks, not impetuous rushes of blood.

June 6, 2007

Habibul Bashar reacts to his sacking

Posted on 06/06/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

	Habibul Bashar in happier times. © AFP

A bitter Habibul Bashar reacts to his sacking as Bangladesh captain in an interview to The Daily Star

"No doubt it takes some time to normalise with the change in situation, especially when I had the expectation of continuing as the Test skipper. But what shocked me most was the way I was treated by the authorities. I expected a call from a board official about the decision. Do you think the expectation was too high for me?"

Bashar though did have words of praise for newly-appointed skipper Mohammad Ashraful.

“Ash (Ashraful) is a very good thinker. He is not only a natural talent but also thinks about the game. He follows the game minutely, which is not so common in his generation. Definitely I will give my best support to him but I hope everybody will have patience on him. He should be given enough time to establish himself as a skipper."

May 30, 2007

Leaving on a high

Posted on 05/30/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Dav Whatmore has been Bangladesh's most successful coach and the The Daily Star terms his departure from the post as a peaceful one, unlike the "sorry and painful departures of Indian Mohinder Amarnath, West Indies great Gordon Greenidge, South African Eddie Barlow, Australian Trevor Chappell and Pakistani Mohsin Kamal." The Dhaka daily's Bishwajit Roy interviews Whatmore on plans, hopes and frustrations while coaching the Bangladesh side.

DSS: We have seen some talented cricketers fade away from the spotlight during your tenure like Alok Kapali, Al Shahriar, Tushar Imran. It's true that they have failed sometime but don't you think that you have not motivated them enough to comeback. It seemed that you just let them go.

DW: (laughs) I am not happy with anybody who has talent and doesn't make it. But I do take some responsibility. But you're being harsh as you're saying that it's my fault. I never take credit when players do well. Therefore if a player doesn't do well, I don't think its fair to say that the coach is at fault. I take responsibility but at the end of the day, the player should take some of the responsibilities. Alok is still rated highly and potentially extremely good. If you see him bat in the nets, you'd pick him first but unfortunately that didn't translate into runs. Even though he has so much ability, he must understand what batting is all about.

DSS: Do you think not finding a permanent opening combination is a big failure?

DW: Yeah, it is the same now. We have another boy (Shahriar Nafees) out of form as well. Opening hasn't been the best part of our batting line-up. It would have been nice to have a good opening pair as it is important to have a good start if you're batting first or second.

May 16, 2007

A big man with a big heart

Posted on 05/16/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Akram Khan was the the first Bangladesh captain to taste victory in ODIs. He is set to take on the role of a national selector soon. In this interview with BanglaCricket editor Khondaker Mirazur Rahman, he talks about his vision about Bangladesh Cricket, selection policy and domestic cricket.

May 9, 2007

An interview with Khaled Mahmud

Posted on 05/09/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

"After his retirement from International cricket, Khaled Mahmud briefly worked as the Manager of the Bangladesh National Cricket Team. Currently, he is working as the Team Operations Manager of the Bangladesh National Cricket Academy in a bid to groom young players for future Bangladesh teams. In his interview with BanglaCricket editor Khondaker Mirazur Rahman, he expressed his vision about the Bangladesh National Cricket Academy, Bangladesh cricket and India’s tour of Bangladesh."

April 22, 2007

'Bangladesh's future is good and encouraging'

Posted on 04/22/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Dav Whatmore announced that he would end his tenure as coach of Bangladesh after the series against India. In an interview to the Times of India, Whatmore reflects on his legacy with Bangladesh over the last four years and what the future holds.

The family is behind me. At present, we need to balance a little bit with some personal contact with them all. But they understand that cricket is my life. They have been more than generous in allowing me to achieve so many things in my life.

March 3, 2007

Nafees strikes confident note

Posted on 03/03/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Nabila Ahmed, writing in The Age, Melbourne, profiles Shahriar Nafees, the son of a freedom fighter who defended Bangladesh in its bloody war of independence against in 1971.

Under the tutelage of softly spoken captain Bashar, Nafees is now being groomed to one day take over the leadership of his country. Bangladesh's cricketer of the year in 2006, the left-hander says marriage to law student Eshita has brought him luck. "After the wedding, I scored about 400 runs in seven or eight one-dayers."

February 8, 2007

Fists and fights in Bangladesh

Posted on 02/08/2007 in Bangladesh cricket

Bangladesh's Daily Star carries a report of a remarkable match in which players were chased by spectators and beaten up, the stumps were stolen and the riot police were summoned to restore order. Even then the umpires had to search to find the hiding fielders, one eventually being hauled out from under the covers.

Perhaps the most worrying thing was the casual note by the paper:-

In the last decade, such happenings are not rare as it is quite 'honourable' for clubs to threaten or physically beat up their opponents, own players or the umpires if the match did not go according to their wish.

The Bangladesh board has launched an investigation.

September 10, 2006

First class on Narail Express

Posted on 09/10/2006 in Bangladesh cricket

	© AFP

Rabeed Imam takes a trip down to the home town of Mashrafee Bin Mortaza for the post-wedding reception of Bangladesh's most animated cricketer . Click here to read.

Riding the Honda CDI in his usual carefree fashion with Razzak in the back, Mortaza suddenly let go the steering and spread his hands on reaching the Chitra Bridge but still managed to balance the bike with ease. “He has fantastic control of a motorbike so I wasn’t worried,” Razzak tried to put up a brave face. One of Mortaza’s childhood pals inform that they used to jump from the bridge on to goods carrying barges as they passed.

It was 12pm and the last part of the Mortaza experience unfolded. Showing a narrow path that leads to the river from his house Mortaza said confidently, “I can do what ever I feel like here. This area belongs to me and my friends. We have been taking this path to the river since I was a kid. We used to race each other to see who hits the water first and sometimes we ran stark naked through this passage screaming and shouting before plunging into the river. Even now at times we turn back the clock to those days and a friend’s mother, who to her misfortune saw us one day, asked in exasperation if we would ever grow up,” grins Mortaza.

April 17, 2006

A boycott and an apology

Posted on 04/17/2006 in Bangladesh cricket

In the wake clashes between the media and police at Chittagong, the Daily Star in Dhaka decided to boycott coverage of the event.

It was not possible for us to file reports while fellow journalists languished in hospital, victims of brutal police assault. To protest this unjust police torture the journalists immediately held a meeting and decided to boycott the Bangladesh-Australia series until the incident was fairly investigated and the guilty police officials were punished.

February 23, 2006

'Ponting, you just keep your mouth shut'

Posted on 02/23/2006 in Bangladesh cricket

"It's simply a great victory. With the superb win against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh hold a lot of things as far as Test matches are concerned. I don't understand why some people unnecessarily criticise the Tigers," writes Wasim Akram in The Daily Star.

Ponting, you just keep your mouth shut and look back to what they did against you people in Cardiff last year and take a note of the latest one against Sri Lanka. And I would suggest everybody: Don't think you are going to play a warm-up game when you take on Bangladesh.

January 1, 2006

Bangladesh mourn Barlow's passing

Posted on 01/01/2006 in Bangladesh cricket

Eddie Barlow's death has deeply affected a number of Bangladesh's players, notably Habibul Bashar and Khaled Mahmud with whom Barlow forged close relations:

"Whatever I have achieved so far was because of that man. He gave me the mental support when my place in the national team was not even confirmed. I will always remember his words to the selectors that I have learnt afterwards 'Is Sumi in the list for the inaugural Test," said an emotion-chalked Bashar.

"Can you imagine a man seriously ill rushed to the ground only to see Bangladesh's practice match against Derbyshire. Honestly speaking, Bangladesh's cricket was in his heart," he said.