Wise heads on young shoulders

Cricket nowadays is a great advertisement. It has become so popular in this part of the world that an under-19 World Cup match, which would hardly have been noticed had it been played down under, South Africa or even in England, drew a half-packed audience at Bangladesh's home of cricket in Mirpur on Friday.

One of the flagship events of the ICC, the U-19 World Cup is still a promotional tournament in the game's governing body's roster and more importantly regarded as a jamboree of future stars from all over the world. But the access to live coverage of the event has created a lot of buzz with fans, albeit in small numbers, flocking to Bangladesh to support their future stars.

It's not just about the fans but also the conscious minds of those cricketing nations, who are keenly following the progress of their young teams. For example, an editor of a reputed English language daily from Nepal was having lunch at The Daily Star Centre on Friday. While having his meal he was curious to know the progress of the Bangladesh-Nepal quarterfinal. And after he was updated with the latest score (Bangladesh youths struggling at 98 for four by the end of the 30th over while chasing Nepal's 211) his eyes glinted.

Bangladesh youths however eventually won the game but Nepal, despite being an associate member-nation, impressed all and sundry in a game which offered high-octane entertainment. The home side won the game by six wickets and with ten balls to spare, but it hardly depicted how close Nepal were to a dream passage to the semifinal, only to be denied by a magnificent century partnership between skipper Mehedi Hasan (55) and Zakir Hasan (75) for the fourth wicket.

Although it's only a game involving youths, it will not be an overstatement to consider this partnership a mature and well-constructed stand that can match any other good stands witnessed on the world stage at the senior level.

The beauty of that partnership against a predominantly disciplined spin attack was its absorption of pressure, consolidation, progression and that too with minimum risk-factor involved. There was only one moment of uncertainty in that partnership, which was when Mehedi charged down the wicket. The Bangladesh captain and his Nepalese counterpart behind the wicket both missed it completely, leaving the latter with little chance to have a firm grip of the game.

Bangladesh were in need of 90 odd runs in the final 15 overs and they required 70 odd runs in the final 10. The situation was tempting enough to play big shots, but the two mature heads on young shoulders never played a single rash stroke. Instead they pushed for quick singles, translated those one and a half runs to twos. They did play some lofted shots but those were executed with immaculate foot-work and magnificent placement. Even the last shot from Zakir for six, a lofted heave between long-on and mid-wicket, was a case of sheer timing. It was a partnership of maturity beyond age.