Batting position bugs Mosaddek
Mosaddek Hossain's status as one of the bright young prospects of Bangladesh cricket took a minor hit last week when he was one of six players excluded from the national central contracts list, but as he showed with a match-saving century in the Bangladesh Cricket League fifth-round match against Central Zone on Friday, the 22-year-old is prepared to take it on the chin. However, while speaking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday, the South Zone batsman did express discontent at his batting position in domestic cricket and called on the national team management and selectors to look into it.
He scored his unbeaten ton from number eight in the second innings of their match, having also been unconquered on 21 in the first innings after coming in at seven. "I have a slight objection to this. I have no problem batting down the order in the national team, because I have nothing to say about those who come before me -- they have been contributing to the national team for a long time and continue to do so," said Mosaddek, who usually bats at seven or eight in international cricket.
"But that does not mean that I will bat at number seven or eight in domestic cricket. I hope the team management will look into it, because I cannot say anything about it directly. I hope the selectors will look into it," he added.
Of the four matches he has played in the league so far, he batted at number five in the first two rounds and scored a century. After the first three rounds the league took a break to accommodate the Dhaka Premier League, during which he batted down the order for eventual champions Abahani, although he will not have much to complain about as he hit just one fifty in 15 innings.
While admitting that he did not contribute this time, unlike in the previous year, he said that he was not Chris Gayle or Andre Russell and that he needed four or five overs to get going.
He missed a big chunk of international cricket last year because of an eye infection. "As I could not play matches because of the injury, how can I expect to be part of the contracts? I am not thinking about how to get back in the contracts; I believe that if I can perform well, a lot of things will become easy."
Having taken South Zone to a position from where they could challenge for the title in the last-round match against leaders North Zone starting from tomorrow in Khulna, and boasting a first-class average of 67.94, it will be interesting to see if South coach Khaled Masud decides to heed Mosaddek's demands.
Comments