Tigers better than expected
Hardly anyone can be blamed for thinking that the standard of Bangladesh cricket would decrease following the exodus of some key players to the unauthorized Indian Cricket League (ICL).
For a developing cricket nation like Bangladesh, filling in the vacuum overnight is very tough and the authorities concerned usually have no choice but to incorporate some fresh faces overnight to make up for the loss. It would hardly be surprising if such actions gave more voice to those who love to brand the Tigers 'an ugly sister' in the highest level of the game.
But the Mohammad Ashraful-led young brigade surprised many by their impressive recent performances, which saw them win a one-day match against New Zealand, their first-ever international success against the Kiwis and play some competitive matches including a lost opportunity in the Test against Daniel Vettori's side at Chittagong.
There was even more surprise when the Tigers continued their positive showing also in their challenging tour of South Africa. They lost both Twenty20 International and first one-day game but nobody was ready to say: “Why you are there?”
Not only laymen like Sharif, a Bangladeshi expatriate who is working in a restaurant, but also former national opener turned commentator Athar Ali Khan has also been getting admiring comments from different strata of people here.
“Everybody was surprised because it was expected that the Bangladesh national team would suffer heavily after the departure of key players. As a former Bangladesh player I feel good when Kepler Wessels, Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell and many others praised the young team's performance,” said an excited Athar.
Alistair Campbell, an elegant left-hander who played 60 Tests and 188 ODIs before quitting the game early during turmoil in Zimbabwean cricket, paid tribute to the Bangladesh team performance after the mass resignation and expressed his disappointment over Zimbabwean cricket's decreasing trend in the international stage.
“It's surprising the way your national team performed despite the departure of some key and experienced players. Look at Zimbabwe cricket where the departure of the players, though there were different reasons, just destroyed the game in the country. But it's exciting to see that Bangladesh have the strength to fill the gap,” said Campbell, who is running the Lilfordia Junior School in Harare with his father, Iain besides commentating.
“Recently Zimbabwe lost a match against Uganda…..how pathetic it is! and it's not good for world cricket that an upcoming cricketing nation is going down day by day. On the other hand, Bangladesh showed that they have the infrastructure and crowd to improve their graph in world cricket,” he added.
The 36-year old former Zimbabwean skipper however issued a warning that more exodus may take a heavy toll on Bangladesh cricket.
“It's not easy to stop someone to go if there is big amount of money involved. In my opinion further departure of players will hugely affect the players. ICC must resolve the issue otherwise it will hamper the progress of a team like Bangladesh,” suggested Campbell.
“For greater interest of the game the governing body should ensure that Bangladesh is going up and for that they need to work with some players for a certain period of time. It's really alarming when as many as fourteen players left their country simultaneously,” he said.
Campbell was a little bit disappointed with the performance of Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful.
“He was too young when I played against him but now he is matured enough. His poor average hardly reflects his calibre,” he said expressing his disappointment about Ashraful, who averages a little bit over 23 in both Tests and ODI.
Johnson also echoed with his former teammates sentiment about Bangladesh cricket after the ICL effect.
“Still it's long way to got but this young team is really progressing well, especially it seems that the departure of some key players has hardly affected the team. It's always good if you have a combination of young and experienced cricketers in the team,” said Johnson, the former Zimbabwean pace bowler, who is running a cricket academy named after him in Durban.
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