For the Love of Cricket

(From right) Shehan Karunatikala, Kamila Shamsie and Khademul Islam profess their love for the sport. photo: Palash Khan

It seemed somehow appropriate that any discussion on cricket should start at the figurative crack of dawn. And although 'play was delayed' by some malfunctioning floodlights at the Bangla Academy, the collective intellect of the lovely Kamila Shamsie, the uber cool Shehan Karunatikala and the affable Khademul Islam made for a thoroughly enjoyable discussion on cricket and how it dominates the South Asian psyche.
Moderated by Sandip Roy, the session covered topics as diverse as cricket history, sexism and cricketer politicians. In between, the three discussants served up interesting discourse on the wanton demand of T20 cricket, the place of test cricket in today's breakneck world and the resurrection of the Author's Cricket Club.
Shamsie spoke of the thrill at middling the first ball she ever faced in a classic back-foot defence, and the despair at having been bowled the very next ball. She also spoke of the feeling of having been the sole member of a men's team up against an all-women team in cricket. “The players had a hard time figuring out whether it would be sexist to sledge or sexist to not sledge,” she said.
Karunatikala spoke of how the Sri Lankans at the end of their thirty-year war had gotten their priorities straight by reallocating most of the excess budget, not to education or health, but in the building of two brand new cricket stadiums. He also spoke of how in his book, the protagonist weaves an elaborate (and mostly hogwash) theory of how cricket nations pay for their sins out on the field. The colonial English fail at every game they invent, the South Africans choke because of their apartheid past and the West Indians were blessed with talent to compensate for the years of slavery they suffered.
Khademul Islam spoke of how he has embarked on a quest similar to the Chinaman's protagonist to locate the first Bangladeshi Muslim player. His luck, unfortunately, has been slightly less forthcoming.
All in all, it was an hour well spent in the company of literary giants talking about a sport most Bangladeshis innately relate to.