Last of the recognised batsmen

If you watch Bangladesh bat you will often hear – “this is the last of the recognised batsmen” - I just did again. Earlier when they were 5 down I heard, “this is the last of the recognised pairs”. How are these recognised pairs calculated, who are these recognised batsmen, more importantly, does Bangladesh have any recognised batsmen?

I’ve been thinking about this for a few days – how many Bangladeshi batsmen do we recognise, by name, by face? There’s Shakib, and we’ve followed his batting like the Hutch dog here. There’s Ashraful, whose batting went astray; and Mortaza’s IPL non-exploits – he’s not even playing now. And of course, Tamim, who’s quite an Indophile.

But apart from these recognisable batsmen, who are the others – hold your horses, there’s Mahmudullah, who walks in at the fall of the 7th wicket – and as Bangladesh is invariably 7 down, Mahmudullah is usually the last of the recognised batsmen. Funny how I still can’t recognise him. But then neither can the Indian bowlers.

It’s like this, they have grand plans for Mahmudullah – but then they ask themselves, who's this guy? You gotta recognise a batsman then plan his dismissal. Mahmudullah is the Andy Flower of Bangladesh. He is an even bigger Indophile than Tamim. And doesn’t he keep wickets well, at least his!