'Better than money'

Abdur Razzak

The incomparable experience of sharing a dugout with the best players of the world and training with them easily surpassed the boredom that Abdur Razzak felt during his stint with the Bangalore Royal Challengers during the Twenty20 Indian Premier League.
"I have always known players like (Rahul) Dravid, (Anil) Kumble and (Jaques) Kallis as opponents but having worked with them, I saw their attitude towards cricket and how mentally tough they are," said Razzak, who returned to Dhaka on Thursday, while speaking to the Daily Star last evening.
"Now I know how they play and how they approach cricket. Although there was no special rapport, all my teammates were simply fantastic towards me and I loved every moment of it although I didn't get to play much," added Razzak.
The left-arm spinner played only one match in the tournament, that too against red-hot Rajasthan franchise when Graeme Smith smashed him for 29 runs from only two overs. Clearly, it was not the dream IPL debut but Razzak's grasp of cricketing knowledge took a giant stride. For instance, his talk about bowling in Tests with great leg-spinner and India captain Anil Kumble would take him a long way.
"Anil was very helpful when I asked him about bowling in Test matches. He told me that given my bowling approach, it is very important to use variations within my line and length. Actually, captains would want a breakthrough from me so without using variations, wickets are hard to come by. You can only expect such wise words from someone like Kumble. Coach Venkatesh Prasad was also a great help," said Razzak who has ambitions of making the No 1 spinner's spot his own.
One of the cheaper players at $50,000, Razzak said that the money was not as important as the experience was.
"People might laugh when I say that gaining experience in this way is more important than the money, although it was a driving factor," said the Khulna-born spinner.
But while he gained so much in India, Razzak missed the entire Premier Cricket Super League for Mohammedan Sporting Club and he realises that he did miss a lot of cricket.
"I missed the Dhaka league and I also didn't have too much to do in India so it was quite boring at times," reflected Razzak who added that the best part was the training sessions with his teammates and the most fun he had was during their football match while warming up.
He enjoyed the IPL buzz which according to his words, "must be seen to be believed".
But it was not all fun and games for the Bangalore franchise that had trouble on and off the field, notably the row involving owner Vijay Mallya, captain Dravid and CEO Charu Sharma.
Razzak claims that nothing was wrong between the owner and Dravid but Mallya had a run-in with the CEO.
"Actually the whole issue was between Mallya and the CEO. But I believe that once you are paid so much, you have to perform," was Razzak's simple reply.
Razzak would have an instant chance to use all the wealth of experience he gained from the IPL into the upcoming tri-series. He joins practice at the Sher-e-Bangla today and the left-arm spinner would be further helped back into the groove of things with the two warm-up (day-night) games on June 3 and 5.