Wednesday, June 22, 2005

The “A” player in a “B” team

Not so long ago, you would be justified in surfing right past a Bangladesh cricket game, without giving it a second thought. Now, however, it makes good cricketing sense to keep that sports channel on, (by the way, this is not an ESPN Star Sports funded article) at least while the new kid on the block, Mohammed Ashraful’s at the crease.

For a while now, Ashraful has had top billing as a batsman (comparison’s to Sachin were common in Dacca circles, and went beyond their similar stature). But over the last year, this boy had done little to vindicate his teammates’ faith in him.

Then, along came a spider (read Australia), all set to gobble the Bangladeshis. But the ants, turned out to be tiger ants, if any such species exists. And Ashraful, almost single handedly won the game, with a magical hundred. As I’m not a diehard Bangladeshi fan, I gave it a miss, and only read the mind-altering result in the papers, the following day. I suppose, very few cricket fanatics watched the game in India. And if there were any that wanted to, the Confederation Cup telecast from Germany, took care of them. Ever wonder, why your favourite sports’ network has two TV channels, but still fails to finish games they start?

Back to the field, and the Bangladesh game versus England. Luckily this time, there were no disturbances. England made an obscene 391, and Bangladesh were at a familiar 30 for 2 by the 10th over. However, by the 26th over, Bangladesh had crossed 150. Ashraful though, had just been dismissed – but not before he had belted Harmisson for 19 in his first over, including 2 6s (before this game, Harmisson had taken 5 wickets against the Aussies, in arguably his best ODI performance). Ashraful smashed just about every other English bowler that followed – Flintoff, Giles, the entire balmy army’s pride. This little guy, played every shot in the book, and quite a few out of it – sweeps, cuts, late cuts, drives, heaves, pulls, and freakishly innovative gulli-danda like shots over fine leg.

But when Ashraful was bowled on 94 (much faster than run a ball), playing yet another gulli danda shot, I had to put the TV off. With a wry smile, I might add. That it was well past 1 am (IST) is another thing. My mind wandered back to a young Tendu going out blazing, and the others after him, going out lazing (excuse the rhyme, but it did seem apt). That Bangladesh might be on the verge of creating its first world-class player, one whom people would pay good money to watch, appeared a distinct possibility. More importantly, the marketing of this player was already underway (do we see the Cola companies queuing up?). After beating Australia, Ashraful, not only won Bangladesh their very first game against that team, but a great, big headline for himself, across the cricketing world. One that could even read – The “A” player in a “B” team. Got it? Well, A’s for Asharful (and his caliber), and B’s for Bangladesh (and their…no need to overemphasise though).

Now, one player does not a team make. And unless Bangladesh can nurture their youngsters (those that haven’t already been scarred by countless humiliating defeats), the frustrations of so near, yet so far will continue. The fact, that their famous win against Australia was to a great extent, a one-man show is obvious.

Interestingly however, the genesis of Bangladesh into a team capable of beating far better sides has been underway, albeit too slowly. For starters, their coach, Dave Whatmore has a proven track record (what, he’s even got a world cup win) and they’ve stuck it out with him, rather than chop away like Indian hockey. In its short international stint, Bangladesh has already beaten both Pakistan and India in ODIs, in addition to other non-test playing nations. In fact, Bangladesh were poised to even beat Pakistan in a test match–only the wily Inzi denied them with a miraculous last wicket partnership.

The defeats and frustrations aside, any true cricket lover would want to see Bangladesh improve as a team – compete with better sides, and cause the odd upset. You can be sure, two older cousins (read India and Pakistan) will definitely oblige. Possibly yet another way to spread this new found feeling of bonhomie in the sub subcontinent.

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