Why having this NCL?
This is not exactly what Twenty20 cricket is supposed to be like. And this is not how you prepare for a major tournament like the World Cup.
But the Destiny Group National Cricket League T20s, projected to be the country's richest cricket tournament and the perfect build-up for the imminent World T20s, has turned out to be one boring party -- if you leave out the opening ceremony -- where most of the main attractions have put everyone to sleep, quite literally.
The organisers have done plenty to add lustre to the meet but while the event has run smoothly and been organised well by ATN Records, BCB and the franchises, the on-field events have left a lot to be talked about.
But let's get the external factors, or what some would call the excuses, out of the way first. Indeed two factors have played a key role in bringing down the tournament: player and pitch fatigue.
The tournament is being played at the fag end of a most gruelling season for players, both national and local, and the pitches in Mirpur.
After the Dhaka Premier League came the first-class competition, intertwined by visits by Sri Lanka, India and England and a short trip to New Zealand. The under-19 players spent most of the season preparing for and playing their World Cup. Then they all converged for the Port City League in Sharjah and within a few days, they came back to a sweltering Dhaka to play the glitzy NCL T20s with tired bodies. And spare a thought for the cricket ground. The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium has easily been the most used venue than any field this season. Sluggish pitches and players obviously don't paint the prettiest picture.
BCB has time and again called this a 'build-up' tournament. Apart from Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who look like the only people who get Twenty20 cricket, the rest of the national cricketers selected for the World Twenty20s look terribly out of touch. Not out of touch with bat and ball but clearly with the format.
It seems that the only way top batsmen like Shakib Al Hasan, Aftab Ahmed, Imrul Kayes and Naeem Islam know how to get out of trouble is by slogging. And after connecting a few cross-batted heaves, they get out in one of two ways: holing out to a boundary-rider or their stumps are shattered.
Of course Shakib, Mahmudullah Riyad and Naeem haven't stopped playing since July 2009 so a dip in form would be tolerable, but what about Aftab? The pocket rocket has certainly seen much better days. His trademark flicks and robust cuts seem to find fielders more often.
Mohammad Ashraful has flourished with his bowling, which has drawn further attention to his falling stocks as a batsman. It seems that his specialty -- the one magical innings -- is long overdue.
But leaving aside the flaws of the national batsmen, this tournament has mirrored the level of understanding of the players and the six think-tanks.
There seem to be a universal reluctance to take chances apart from only going after the bowling in the first and last few overs. In the fourteen matches played so far, the average first innings score has been only 138 runs. The most dominant team so far -- Dhaka Dynamites -- are more than happy with anything around 150 and have been perfectly capable of defending it.
In fact the bowlers would probably never have imagined Twenty20s to be so much fun. Bowling in one or two-over spells, most have thrived on the batsmen's muddled thinking. Especially the middle overs have been heavily stacked in favour of the spinners. Of the 15 man-of-the-match performances, 11 have gone the way of the bowlers. Two pacemen -- Mukhtar Ali and Rubel Hossain -- have snapped up five-fors, a rarity in Twenty20 cricket.
Obviously the bowlers would take full advantage of what they are faced with but the lop-sided nature of the contests has not drawn big crowds.
A refreshing change is the Sultans of Sylhet. Apart from one poor outing, they have been quite the flamboyant line-up. Probably because their trump cards Mashrafe and Alok Kapali have fired, they seem to be the only team so far happy to go after the bowling throughout the Twenty20 overs.
They have posted the highest score of the tournament so far, 182-6 against Rajshahi Rangers, and successfully chased a 150-plus score. Perhaps they have accepted that Twenty20s have to be played in a new method of quick shifts in batting tempos and constant variations in bowling, and not like a miniature form of one-day cricket like most of the others have so far put up. Some of their batsmen, particularly Kapali, have done well.
But the man who has stood out is Tamim Iqbal, who is the leading scorer so far with 193 runs from five matches. The left-hander certainly knows what Twenty20s are all about.
He unfailingly gave the Cyclones of Chittagong good starts and on more than one occasion, made sure he went on to play a big innings despite the rest capitulating around him. Maybe someone like Shamsur Rahman should take a leaf out of Tamim's book because the Dhaka Dynamites opener has been a paradigm of the local T20s failings.
A player who has all the shots and probably good enough for top-level Twenty20s, Shamsur regularly throws it away after a blistering start which he gets almost regularly. And this hasn't been a problem exclusive to Shamsur but to many batsmen in the local scene. It was starkly evident in the Premier League Twenty20s earlier this season and it has been ever-present in this competition as well.
It is always a pleasing sight, especially in this country, to see corporate houses coming forward and lending a hand to cricketers' livelihood but at this slow pace, would they end up avoiding the cricketers?
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