No more a 'test' case

Now not many people know this, fewer still care about it, but the recent double dhamaka from the Tigers compel me to dig back to well almost twenty years.

On a fine day in 1996, my cousin and then advertisement executive Asaduzzaman Noor (now minister and still my cousin) called me to a meeting at the Kakrail office of Saber Hossain Chowdhury, then president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. We were joined by Aly Zaker, Noor Bhai's office colleague. There was little beating around the bush and the trio told me point-blank that Bangladesh was bidding for Test status (Huh!), and I am supposed to prepare a write-up as BCB's official submission to the visiting ICC team. (Huh again!)

Back then I was Sports Editor of The Daily Star, and so I accepted their choice and my appointment with as much humility as was possible for a person thrust into internationalism. I was short on cricketing data and so hinged on my talented Star Sport colleague Hasan Masood, a married man who soared to stardom with 'Bachelor'. 

With information on Bangladesh cricket (there obviously was not a lot), under our sleeves, we conjured perhaps the greatest piece of 'literature' that concealed more than it revealed about where we stood circa the state of the game of gentlemen (this was long before Mild Steel Dhoni showed us his WWE manoeuvre).

A copy of the critique "Bangladesh – A Test Case" is ageing in my locker because my punning title was accepted by Saber & Co. But they had kept the worst for the last. On a January 1997 afternoon, I was standing in a meeting room at Sonargaon Hotel, my lips parched from thirst, as I went about explaining via slides why Bangladesh needed, if not deserved, full ICC membership for cricket to survive in this land.

Patriotism is one thing and convincing - with half-truths - two cricketing global giants (South Africa's Dr. Aly Bacher and Pakistan's Majid Khan) who can spot a rookie even before shaking hands is different. But, with ifs, buts and may-bes roiling in my tummy, I began my lecture: "I may not know the 42 laws of cricket, I may wonder what three batsmen are doing in the middle, I may confuse between a googly and a Chinaman, I may dispute most lbw decisions, but I am thrilled when a batsman comes out of his crease to execute a full-blooded drive through the cover. I admire the strength of a fast bowler, the magic of a spinner. I am elated by the sound of tumbling wickets – when the other side is batting. I represent what you (two) may say the cross-section of people of Bangladesh. We are head over heels in love with this game."

Bacher and Khan looked at each other, Saber looked at me, and I knew I could continue describing our rather weak domestic competitive structure, our lack of international exposure even at home, our wobbly infrastructure and communication, our playing standard that was nowhere near that of the other illustrious sub-continental giants, our below par coaching and umpiring, and yet our packed-to-rafters venues.

What no other country could match then (or now) was the fervour that we involuntarily attach to cricket, and that was my winning stroke on which I cashed in my presentation. Holding my hand on my 'right' chest (where I indicated my heart was) I managed to deliver the epic statement:

"Cricket is in the heart of Bangladeshis. Where else in the world would you find travellers on rickshaws hooked to radio sets listening to running commentary of a match between countries they have never set their foot on or have no relation with whatsoever? Many Bangladeshis may embarrass a Gavaskar, or a Cronje, or a Gatting, or a Khan with knowledge of their cricket statistics that may be Greek to their own countrymen or even to themselves.

"Offices in Motijheel, saree shops in Rajshahi, motor launches plying on the Meghna, a forest office in Rangamati, a bungalow in Sylhet's tea garden – depending on satellite TV's magnanimity will have one thing in common – they will all be tuned to ESPN or Star Sports covering Live a Test Match or an ODI from stadia flung across the globe."

When I saw the duo from the ICC Development Committee shift in their seats (what to me was a nod of approval), I knew our ODI status was on the plate. Granted that in 1997, the full membership (Test ranking) was bestowed in 2000, but not before I made a second presentation to ICC.

From figures that were more of an apology, from uncertainty expressed as mortification, from performances that reeked of amateurism, Bangladesh today is a name to contend with. We washed out Pakistan 3-0 in an ODI series last April and we convincingly defeated India 2-1 last week,; situations unthinkable for me to pen or utter two decades ago. Yes, indeed, we have come a long way. Somebody please pat me on the back.

Tests? But, I did say Bangladesh was a 'test' case.

The writer is a practising Architect at BashaBari Ltd., a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow, a Baden-Powell Fellow Scout Leader, and a Major Donor Rotarian.