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Showing posts with label Bangladesh Cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bangladesh Cricket. Show all posts
Bangladesh, who?
What will make India take notice?
For any sporting rivalry to take root, hate between the fans must blossom. Ever since India and Pakistan started to lock horns on a cricket field, theirs was the rivalry to beat. There was enough hatred to feed generations, and whenever it threatened to dry up, fresh blood was spilled off the field to keep it going. Even when India and Pakistan stopped playing each other in bilateral series, the occasional ICC event fed those fiery old flames. Close to seven years ago, even a warm-up match between the two fed those flames. Now it appears the rivalry, if you can call it that, is just between the fans, the matches are one-sided, there is no history between players. Shoaib Akhar laughs with his Indian buddies, season after IPL season in the studio. If anything, former Pakistani players seem more at home sparring with each other; surely you've seen Mohammad Yousuf and Ramiz Raja go at each other like Indians and Pakistanis?
For years, it was as if the Bangladeshi cricket team did not exist. With the West Indies and Sri Lanka falling out of favour, the BCCI's peripheral vision informed it of this upcoming neighbour. They could be a pesky little cricket team, who knows, maybe humour the coffers, adding to the India Victorious packages on Star Sports. There was some vague history too, Bangladesh had done what Pakistan had failed to so far, beaten India in a World Cup match.
Bangladesh’s preoccupation with cutting extended to
a distasteful image of Taskin Ahmed holding aloft MS Dhoni’s severed head. Not
only was the Dhoni haircut outdated, it was a vulgar photoshop by a delusional fan
desperate for his 15 nano-seconds of fame.
What it could do though is let the media create a nagging, new sports rivalry between two neighbours. One that may have little context so far, but could become this little annoyance for India as they start to play each other more often.
But for a cricket rivalry to take shape, there has to be a fear factor on both sides: Just like India dreaded Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar once upon a time, Bangladesh must find its own anti-heroes for this plot. Time will tell whether, Tamim Iqbal, fresh from parenthood, can sire some spite between these two cricket nations and its people. One that isn’t tinkered around with graphics but across those 22 yards.
For any sporting rivalry to take root, hate between the fans must blossom. Ever since India and Pakistan started to lock horns on a cricket field, theirs was the rivalry to beat. There was enough hatred to feed generations, and whenever it threatened to dry up, fresh blood was spilled off the field to keep it going. Even when India and Pakistan stopped playing each other in bilateral series, the occasional ICC event fed those fiery old flames. Close to seven years ago, even a warm-up match between the two fed those flames. Now it appears the rivalry, if you can call it that, is just between the fans, the matches are one-sided, there is no history between players. Shoaib Akhar laughs with his Indian buddies, season after IPL season in the studio. If anything, former Pakistani players seem more at home sparring with each other; surely you've seen Mohammad Yousuf and Ramiz Raja go at each other like Indians and Pakistanis?
For years, it was as if the Bangladeshi cricket team did not exist. With the West Indies and Sri Lanka falling out of favour, the BCCI's peripheral vision informed it of this upcoming neighbour. They could be a pesky little cricket team, who knows, maybe humour the coffers, adding to the India Victorious packages on Star Sports. There was some vague history too, Bangladesh had done what Pakistan had failed to so far, beaten India in a World Cup match.
Most of Bangladesh believed they should have beaten
India in the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals. Then that dreaded no-ball call
denied them of Rohit Sharma’s wicket. It didn’t even stop ICC CEO Mustafa
Kamal, the ultimate Deshi fan boy, from shooting down the no-ball call. Before
you knew it, fixing allegations were being hurled around. It didn’t go down too
well with the then ICC President, N Srinivasan. One thing led to another,
Kamal’s name was withdrawn from the World Cup Final’s presentation ceremony and
Srinivasan handed the trophy to winning captain, Michael Clarke. Not to be
outdone, Kamal snapped, “I was supposed to present the trophy to the winners
after the Melbourne final. But I couldn’t do that. People with ugly mindset had
no business running the ICC. I’m just sending my resignation to the ICC, for I
was not allowed to work in line with the ICC constitution”.
Before long, Srinivasan was ICC history too. But before
that, India played a three-match ODI series in Bangladesh. 19 year old, Mustafizur
Rahman sliced through India’s batting with 13 wickets. India lost the series
1-2. Bangladeshi daily, Prothom
Alo featured a fake-ad mocking the Indian team with
their heads half shaved by Rahman’s cutters, also his prize delivery. The
banner held by the Indian cricketers read, 'We have used it. You can use it too'.
Surely, Indian fans would answer some of these
puke-bursts but I very much doubt they know the names or faces of any
Bangladeshi cricketers. Not being taken seriously is bad enough, not being
considered, far worse. So while Bangladesh grapples with cricket anonymity,
it’ll take much more than a third-rate photoshop to be taken seriously.
What it could do though is let the media create a nagging, new sports rivalry between two neighbours. One that may have little context so far, but could become this little annoyance for India as they start to play each other more often.
But for a cricket rivalry to take shape, there has to be a fear factor on both sides: Just like India dreaded Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar once upon a time, Bangladesh must find its own anti-heroes for this plot. Time will tell whether, Tamim Iqbal, fresh from parenthood, can sire some spite between these two cricket nations and its people. One that isn’t tinkered around with graphics but across those 22 yards.
India shock Bangladesh in 2019 World Cup
In another huge upset, Pakistan beat Ireland
The world of cricket, it seems, has turned on its head. After four years of losing to their neighbours, rank underdog, India, put one past the "Tigers". It will be wrong to say, nobody saw this coming - in the build up to the World Cup, the Indian selectors finally relented and dropped Ravindra Jadeja, who had played 58 matches without scoring a fifty or taking a single wicket. To Jadeja's credit, whenever he was on the verge of being dropped from the Indian team, the Indian Premier League (IPL) came calling, where he scored the odd 30 and grabbed the even odder wicket. Critics feel it is Jadeja's criticism that has kept him in the team for so long - everyone knows how Dhoni likes to prove his critics and the media wrong. Often when the selectors suggested dropping Jadeja, Dhoni countered that for that to happen, they would have to drop him, Suresh Raina, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey and Ravichandran Ashwin as well. Dhoni went on to elaborate: "It's a package deal you see, if you drop Jadeja, you drop all of us". When one of the selectors cried, "CSK (Chennai Super Kings) conspiracy!", Dhoni snapped back by simply saying, "So shoot me!". The selector who is known to belong to the anti-Srini faction did take a shot at Dhoni, though with a water pistol. Cries of Happy Holi! filled the board room, Indian cricket swept its troubles under the carpet yet again.
After Jadeja's ouster, the picking of Ashish Nehra (also CSK, but it could no longer be held against him) had the most impact on the result. Nehra's opening spell of seven overs all but broke his back and the back of the Bangladeshi batting - and even though Nehra was dehydrated and vomited on the pitch (some feel the puke and not his bowling did the trick), his decision to bowl with a drip kept him going. Nehra dismissed all four batsmen after he threw up.
Virat Kohli's ascendancy as the one day international (ODI) captain in early 2019 is being downplayed but his rapport and like-mindedness with cricket director Ravi Shastri cannot be underestimated - their ability to communicate clearly and abusively was seen as a step in the right direction. Everyone knows Dhoni did not abuse much if at all and that was beginning to hamper communication with both his deputy and the director. And even though Kohli mocks Shastri's Bombaiya accent when the latter swears (ch***ya being an old favourite), the bonhomie between the two has been something to behold. In certain circles they are being referred to as "The Bombay-Delhi Highway". And the joke is, "It's my way or the Bombay-Delhi highway".
Not many are aware that Rahul Dravid held a preparatory camp with the Indian squad in England before the World Cup. The emphasis was to play out Bangladesh's most threatening bowler, Mustafizur Rahman (who has taken no less than five wickets in every India-Bangladesh ODI since his debut on June 18, 2015). Dravid worked extensively on the backfoot play of the openers - both Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan were barred from leaving the crease except for the hourly toilet break. In addition to conducting workshops on mind control for the whole team, Dravid had his Rajasthan Royals colleague and coach, Paddy Upton, pen down his observations in a notebook. The notes that Upton has diligently made are being seen as the key to the Royals' success over the years - "Notes can only get you to the knockout stage, after that, it's up to your own resolve," he remarked. Private sessions with Rohit Sharma and Indian commentators are being credited for the player no longer being referred to as "Talented" and finally living up to his potential. This is being seen as a major breakthrough, up there with the axing of both Jadeja and Axar Patel. "Trolls no longer use that T-word on Twitter. Though I am not too fond of the finished article, I can live with it," Rohit told his media manager and wife, Ritika Sajdeh. She failed to hide her nervousness and proceeded to bite both her own and Rohit's nails.
Uncannily, in what many are seeing as a reverse upset of the 2007 World Cup, a weakened Pakistan (hit hard by last minute retirements and recruitments) beat a formidable Ireland. The Irish coach was safe, though security outside his room has been beefed up.
(However plausible this might sound, this is largely a work of fiction.)
First published here
Crashrafool surprises
Oh those elegant shots that nearly took the Deshis to victory against Pakistan. So heroic, so sexy! It seemed that Crashrafool had finally stopped celebrating his birthday. He even reached a fifty! Bangladesh didn’t win of course but at least Crash had tried this time. Some breathed sighs of relief, some merely raised their eyebrows. Others checked to see if Earth had perished.
In the next game, those that breathed sighs of relief sighed in despair. The eyebrow raisers raised their eyebrows even higher and the others checked to see if Earth had glued itself back together. Crash had customarily started his birthday celebration again.
It is perfectly clear why Crashrafool went out for a duck against the Aussies. These were the same men he had whipped to make a name of himself, expect with a plucked chicken for a captain. There were expectations after the match against Pakistan. People were banking on Crashrafool to work his magic! Unfortunately, Crashrafool pulled his over-done trick out of the hat...a duck that accompanies him back to the pavilion.
It is not clear however why Crash had made the 65 against Pakistan. What was going through his empty skull he uses for a mind? Why did he decide to make runs all of a sudden? Why did he look like the Crashrafool that we all pined to see? Why did he decide not to keep this identity in the next game?
All complicated questions with one simple answer. The performance against Australia was a surprise birthday party. We didn’t know it was coming, but it was definitely pleasant and of course short. Also, it will return after a very long time. What is the purpose of a surprise birthday party if it comes every day? No point. Zero. Niente.
Just like Crashrafool’s score for eons to come.
by Purna
who blogs at Cricket Minded
Bungle-a-desh and other good puns.
Ashraful and I go back a long way. I wrote about him even before he picked a cricket bat. Then I wrote about him when he picked a cricket bat and whacked the Aussies. Then he was A player in the B team. Now he’s the F player in the B team. Purna calls him Crashrafool.
But there’s a problem there. He refuses to play to reputation. Now that nobody believes he has a reputation see what he’s gone and done – he nearly did Pakistan. 65 of 49. It’s another thing, Bangladesh went Crashrafool.
It did help that Tamim didn’t steal the show – poor Ashraful he can’t play second fiddle, not to Tamim, not even to himself. Yesterday he wasn’t himself. For a while he was Shakib. But then so was Shakib. 47 of 31. 2 Shakibs in a team, tell Tamim and Mahmudullah they’re playing India, and the Deshis can be a pain in the....to any side.
PS: If everyone plays like Shakib, then the B'desh team should be called Shakib All Hasan
The birth of Crashrafool.
Birthdays are meant to be celebratory occasions and at least once in your life, you must celebrate your birthday in a crash and bang manner, waking up the next day and not remembering a single thing, regardless of who you are.
If you are somebody though, the basic rules don’t change, but the intensity goes through the roof and into the homes of aliens in galaxies far, far away.
The arrival of Ashraful was one such occasion. Whether he was somebody or not in the beginning of his career is irrelevant. He was small, he terrorized Australians in one game and had strokes that made Ricky upset. That was enough for us to crown him a ‘somebody’.
So we celebrated his birthday. We banged, we crashed and we lit things on fire. By things, I mean fireworks, not people. That was Ashraful’s job, to set bowlers on fire, so we let it be. We woke up the next day not remembering a single detail.
Unfortunately, Ashraful never stopped celebrating. Worse, he chose his birth date at random. It was often and it came several times a year. Every time it was celebrated in the same manner-crash and burn. Ashraful burned often and he burned quickly. Sadly, it was Bangladesh that crashed every time.
Staying true to the very last detail of the analogy, Ashraful remembered none of it the next day. Jamie Siddons tried to bring back his memory, but when a man has no hair to protect his brain, who is going to trust his ability to remember? Hence Ashraful forgot and looked every bit the fool, just like his name.
But the ‘fool’ only made him half a man and that is just downright insulting. He is no longer a boy, but a strapping young lad of twenty-five who continues to crash...a word that conveniently contains the first part of his name.
And so crash joined fool, to become Crashraful. The little boy was on his way to becoming a man.
Purna blogs at Cricket Minded, and is not South African.
Why watch Bangladesh play?
Oh no, you really don’t have to – unless of course, Tamim Iqbal is your son, sibling, neighbour, teammate. Earlier Ashraful’s clansmen watched him play, and by default ended up watching the whole darn team make a mess out of it. Then Ashraful, poor Ash, how he made a mess of his cricket, he wasn’t even playing today. Ash boy has been dropped before, for all you know, he must have been on sick leave today – sick of doing nothing about something.
I’m sure Tamim’s people had a good time today. I only put the TV on when he was walking back. 9th wicket he was, of course, I’m not one of Tamim’s people. But if you’re Indian, you know what this kid can do – Tamim has no tameez when it comes to India, and seeing how many Injuns have settled in England, he must’ve mistaken the Poms for us.
But Bangladesh lost again. And I’m so glad, I didn’t watch a ball. Didn’t even refresh the scoreboard, not a tweet, but now this post. Which begs the question, why write Bangladesh play? Oh right, there is Shakib – and this is only England.
Almost as beatable as Bangladesh. If only some of the Balti restauranters got into cricket.
Then it’ll be two Bangla teams playing each other. Both eminently beatable. And the Poms, they can land up for lunch. And good ol' Bumble will tweet as they eat.
The Invisible Man: Shakib Al Hasan
The Shakibbing continued in the Windies, against a less than worthy opponent. Man of the moment, Man of the match, man of the series, Shakib Al Hasan, captain, bowler, batsman, what more will you have him do? Play better teams for one, right?
(At BCC! we started all this Shakibbing stuff, click back a few pages - soon, it will be cool to be Shakibbing)
Why is Bangladesh still a Test playing nation?
Bangladesh's record in Test matches reads - 59 matches, 1 win, 6 draws, 52 losses. Their solitary win was registered in Jan 2005 against a depleted Zimbabwean team at Chittagong.
Zimbabwe have been their opponents in three of their six drawn matches.
Losses by less than 200 runs: 2
Losses by less than 6 wickets: 4
Our very own BCCI was instrumental in getting Bangladesh elevated to Test status and interestingly the same board has not hosted a series for them even once since November 2000 when they entered the Test arena (perhaps they do not consider them worthy opponents for a home series due to their dismal record).
Now, isn't it time to relegate Bangladesh from Test status.
Namya's moment of the Bangladesh vs. Ireland game
Harsh Bhogale in the post match analysis saying 'Sad day for Bangladeshi cricket' with a smile on his face and some fungoid on his forehead.
by namya
If Naeem Islam was from Austrylia"
He would introduce himself thus: "My naeem's Naeem"
As if you care about Shakib Al Hasan
Good for Shakib he wasn't picked by an IPL team and Mortazaed - i.e played like his fellow Bangladeshi (by KKR) in their penultimate game, made to bowl the ultimate over, and ultimately lose them the match.
Moving on to Bangladesh's warm-ups for the T20 WC - looks like they've been at it - 3 warm-up games back home vs. Bangladesh A, as if you care. Followed by games vs. New Zealand, Netherlands and Scotland. And that was till 29th May.
On the 1st they play Australia, on the 2nd Sri Lanka.
And if you care, check out Shakib's showing in these games, esp vs New Zealand, not bad, eh?
Frankly, Shakib wasn't picked by an IPL team because nobody knew what he looked like, played like, what cola he liked? Had they hopped across here, who knows what would've been - Shakib Al Hasan (like fake) was both seriously and stupidly first talked about here at Bored.
Now what are the chances of Shakib taking India back to the future circa 2007? Let the Shakibbing continue.
Daring to Dream
By Q
If one cricketer can boast of 2008 being his year its Bengali boy Shakib Al Hasan.
8 tests, 400 runs and still counting. 30 wickets with fur 5 wicket hauls.
Brilliant!
I am tempted to call him BCC!'s very own Shakib Al Hasan!
Right now he's batting on 82 nearing a first ever test 100 in his 11th match.
At the crease with him is Mushfiq ur Rahim, the boy who played a part in dumping India from the 2007 World Cup.
Rahim's batting on 40.
The Target: 521.
IMPOSSIBLE.
Especially when you have Murali to face.
But Murali's bowled 41 overs - more than a third of the team's total.
Bangladesh's score: 373-6.
Status: Lunch time.
So another 60 overs or so to go.
Another 148 to get.
2 set batsmen at the crease.
One of them being BCC!'s own Shakib.
Murtaza to follow. He's no mug with the bat.
And Murali can bowl from only one end. Not both!
414 was chased easily last week.
387 was as well a week before that.
Will Bangladesh dare to dream?
Coz he's a Jolie good fellow!
by Naked Cricket
If there’s one player this BCC! would like to adopt, then it has to be Shakib Al Hasan. He plays for Bangladesh but belongs to us. In a way, he’s the new Ashraful. Not that he’ll win games, but he gives hope where none should exist. Yesterday, and today (IST) vs. SAF, both A & S saved B’desh from making complete asses of themselves. Chasing rainbows, they first reined in the proteas, then scored a half century a piece. Meanwhile B’desh went to pieces. But then this is no World Cup.
Please refer to the Bored-to-death Labels under Shakib Al Hasan for more Shakibbing!
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