The roar of the Tigers
I am going to remember for a long time when I got the news: Shakib Al Hasan with a maiden double century and Mushfiqur Rahman with a stately 159 recorded the highest partnership for Bangladesh in Test cricket—359—contributing to Bangladesh’s second highest total away from home—595 for 8 declared. On the second day of the first test against New Zealand a sign posted over the pitch said, “Time for runs.” The two looked more pensive than playful, like men with history on their mind.
And history they made batting 82.2 overs in each other's company. Shakib's 217, at a remarkable strike rate of 78, was the highest individual score by a Bangladesh batsman in Test cricket, while Mushfiqur only just missed out on batting through the entire day. It was clear they were both fuelled by the desire to show that the team can do well outside their borders.
I don’t know who is going to win this match and it doesn’t matter. The timeless virtuosity, combination of agility, stamina, strength, speed, endurance and humility—equilibrium with no strictures—they put on display at Wellington on Friday have made us proud already.
They are, however, not alone in this. In Tamim Iqbal, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah and others Bangladeshi cricket has in recent times produced outstanding role models for a youthful nation. Superb players and men, most of them have come from humble backgrounds and managed to appear remarkably unchanged by the adulation and fortune it has brought them.
Statistics alone are an incomplete assessment of these men. I think it is a story of transformation of a national psyche tired of losing and perhaps, the emergence of a coming renaissance. In a land too long in the thrall of fatalism, their prowess on the cricket field has promoted the idea of the autonomous individual, shaping their own destiny. Time and again they have helped us forget all the bad news around us and rally behind the common cause of serving the nation. They have showed us how to revel in the unusual distinction of boasting the world's best at something.
In hailing them, Bangladesh hails a symbol of what, as a nation, we collectively aspire to be.
The writer is a member of the Editorial Team.