Ashraful becomes first Bangladeshi cricketer to play 150 ODI

[Miraz]

He marked the occasion with a pateint 63. Well done!! Hopefully he will show some maturity from now on. Better late than never. :)

[Zeeshan]

And I am the first one to congratulate him.

[bujhee kom]

Alhamdulillah! And it was a good 150th innings from the great young man Mohammad Ashraful....I swear when he reached that 50 today, I had slight tears in my eyes! He is my adopted son! And I will always always remember Ash in my prayers till my last breath! May Allah the Almighty bless him and give him more courage, skills, stamina and balls! May he shine like the Eastern Star forever in the sky over Bangladesh! :flag:

[Equinox]

Congratulations to Mohammad Ashraful!

[Rabz]

...and still, he remains an enigma.

[Murad]

He is first of many histories/records of BD cricket. Hope he will show more consistenty from now on. In recent time, he doesn't take that many games to score 50s unlike before. In last 10/11 games, he scored 1 century and 3 50s.

[Murad]

Alhamdulillah! And it was a good 150th innings from the great young man Mohammad Ashraful....I swear when he reached that 50 today, I had slight tears in my eyes! He is my adopted son! And I will always always remember Ash in my prayers till my last breath! May Allah the Almighty bless him and give him more courage, skills, stamina and balls! May he shine like the Eastern Star forever in the sky over Bangladesh! :flag:

How many adopted sons you have now?

[AsifTheManRahman]

Alhamdulillah! And it was a good 150th innings from the great young man Mohammad Ashraful....I swear when he reached that 50 today, I had slight tears in my eyes! He is my adopted son! And I will always always remember Ash in my prayers till my last breath! May Allah the Almighty bless him and give him more courage, skills, stamina and balls! May he shine like the Eastern Star forever in the sky over Bangladesh! :flag:
Burger King bhai, duck maarley apnar adopted son er poshchadey 2 ghaa bet maartey paaren na?

[Beamer]

And..in next 150 games, he will score another 5,000 + runs, that will erase any memories of early days headaches and pains. You heard it.

[revolver]

congratulation

[SS]

And..in next 150 games, he will score another 5,000 + runs, that will erase any memories of early days headaches and pains. You heard it.

I doubt he will be there that long....there are lots of decent batsmen (who can score 30s) regularly!) in the pipeline. But if he reaches that all of us will take it for granted.

[auntu]

Congrats Ash!

[nadim 98]

Congrats ash. I really love you so much.
<br />Posted via BC Mobile Edition

[nahaz]

Congrats Ash! Seems like you really know how to celebrate milestones:).

(He's done it for almost every single milestone for both him and the team.)

[Sovik]

congrates.

didn't see his innings but heard he gave it away in the end

[MohammedC]

Congrats Ash

[Mahbub_BD]

Congratulations Ash! Good luck to you in your next 150 matches for Bangladesh! :p

[billah]

A terrible innings to do it in also.

Horrific facial expression facing toothless bowling. Swings-n-misses, the wretched "sedate" crap, the un-ODI strike-rate, the nervous self-babbling, the "I'm trying to hide my fear" laughs, topped with a butt-ugly out....

Ash was born to slay the dragon with a mighty sword, or die trying. When he does, he holds the dreams and aspirations of an entire nation in his hands.

That was a travesty of an Ashraful batting. Very sad.

[nycpro96]

And..in next 150 games, he will score another 5,000 + runs, that will erase any memories of early days headaches and pains. You heard it.

Inshallah :up:

[al Furqaan]

A terrible innings to do it in also.

Horrific facial expression facing toothless bowling. Swings-n-misses, the wretched "sedate" crap, the un-ODI strike-rate, the nervous self-babbling, the "I'm trying to hide my fear" laughs, topped with a butt-ugly out....

Ash was born to slay the dragon with a mighty sword, or die trying. When he does, he holds the dreams and aspirations of an entire nation in his hands.

That was a travesty of an Ashraful batting. Very sad.

it was definitely a face-saving innings from him. in the end it resulted in a W. i won't complain, ashraful is one of those rare guys that as long as he's in the runs, we're in a good position. he just need to carry on in chittagong. he may be re-defining his game due to the pressure of having a lot of guys gunning for his spot. but lets see what happens especially in the tri series in january...

[BlindSupporterofBD]

Ash has played according to the situation in demand. a fantastic innings. a proper mix of defence and agression. he is a beauty!

[yaseer]

Congratulations!!

His innings was good yesterday. Before the match he was struggling and was ready to fight it out in the middle. That is what we want to see from Ashraful, concentration and determination in the crease. Though the innings ended again in a Ashraful-ish way, no complain as he played well yesterday. All we need is the repeat of these sort of innings more and more.

[beshideshi]

First of all, congrats Ash. you are the greatest batsman the country has ever produced, many would shout "what about shakib?" But to me Ash is a greater batsman simply due to his monstrous innings against the likes of India/SA/Aus/Eng.
People now complain that he is not the same batsman anymore, but he has scored four 50s and a hundred in his last 14 innings. I like to see him score runs and win matches for BD, not a flamboyant 30 which remains the "highlight" of our innings. He looks like he has matured a bit, and I am sure he will be one of our main weapons in WC11.
and for those who doesnt like the change, look at Sachin, the master himself.

[kalpurush]

A warm congrats to Ashraful :)
Though, no "under construction 50" would be accepted anymore....;)

[_Rafi_]

He becomes the first vua(bhua) cricketer to play 150 odis as well.
Congratulation Ashraful
<br />Posted via BC Mobile Edition

[Shuvo.]

Well done Ashraful!

[sharjilh]

woooh go Ashraful! We want 7000 runs from the next 150 matches! :)

[Shaan]

congrats to our beloved Ash, I hope from now on he can take responsibility on his shoulder as a senior player and play role model game for his juniors.

[al Furqaan]

ideally, he should get 4500-5000 from his next 150 matches.

[Shehwar]

Congrats Ash....Im glad he got some runs under his belt.....I'd take an ugly 60 instead of a pretty 20 any day...

[zainab]

He has devoted his young life to BD cricket, I dont care how much you guys criticize him and put him down, in my eyes, he is still a lovely batsman to watch when he gets going, he will always be my favourite regardless. He is going through a lean form now in confidence, but he is only 25 yrs old, and the ability is still there. Always the pressure is on him to score since he made his maiden test century. Psychologically, it has harmed him more, BD cricket board should have nurtured him better, and the dumbest mistake was handing him the captaincy, he was not ready at all for that responsibility. Ashraful will always be a loyal servant to BD cricket.

[beshideshi]

Can someone answer this question,
is he the youngest cricketer to reach 150 ODIs?

[Raynman]

A point of note : its 148 with a BD uniform and 2 as part of Asia XI. The 5th ODI will be his 150th BD appearance.

[BANFAN]

Congrats Ashee :)

Make two more fifties in next two ODIs to make the real 50 memorable for the fans !!

[Ajfar]

congrats ash. at least he scored 150 in something.

[deshifan]

OMG! really ? :rolleyes:

[bangla-red]

Can someone answer this question,
is he the youngest cricketer to reach 150 ODIs?

That's a good Cricinfo question... I might ask in the Ask Steven column.

[bangla-red]

Mohammad Ashraful reached the milestone of 150 ODIs during the 3rd ODI between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe on 31st October 2009 at the age of 25 years and 116 days. Is he the youngest cricketer to achieve this milestone?


I asked this question using the Feedback form.

[Equinox]

Can someone answer this question,
is he the youngest cricketer to reach 150 ODIs?
That's something I want to know as well. But I suspect that Tendulkar or some Pakistani players (even though the vast majority of them are fake age) might have been younger when playing their 150th ODI.

[nycpro96]

That's a good Cricinfo question... I might ask in the Ask Steven column.

you should do that

[Equinox]

I asked this question using the Feedback form.
Thanks bro.

[bangla-red]

Uh, I already did :D.

[cricman]

ideally, he should get 4500-5000 from his next 150 matches.

People Forget how Dire His 1st 50 matches were

Look at his last 100 Matches


<table class="engineTable"><caption>Career averages</caption> <thead> <tr class="head"> <th class="left" nowrap="nowrap">
</th> <th title="playing span" class="left" nowrap="nowrap">Span</th> <th title="matches played" nowrap="nowrap">Mat</th> <th title="innings batted" nowrap="nowrap">Inns</th> <th title="not outs" nowrap="nowrap">NO</th> <th title="runs scored" nowrap="nowrap">Runs</th> <th title="highest innings score" class="padAst" nowrap="nowrap">HS</th> <th title="batting average" nowrap="nowrap">Ave</th> <th title="balls faced" nowrap="nowrap">BF</th> <th title="batting strike rate" nowrap="nowrap">SR</th> <th title="hundreds scored" nowrap="nowrap">100</th> <th title="scores between 50 and 99" nowrap="nowrap">50</th> <th title="ducks scored" nowrap="nowrap">0</th> <th title="boundary fours" nowrap="nowrap">4s</th> <th title="boundary sixes" nowrap="nowrap">6s</th> <th>
</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr class="data1"> <td class="left">unfiltered</td> <td class="left" nowrap="nowrap">2001-2009</td> <td>150</td> <td>143</td> <td>13</td> <td>3135</td> <td class="padAst">109</td> <td>24.11</td> <td>4365</td> <td>71.82</td> <td>3</td> <td>19</td> <td>11</td> <td>317</td> <td>28</td> <td style="padding: 1px 0px 1px 3px; white-space: nowrap;">Profile (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/55988.html)</td> </tr> </tbody> <tbody> <tr class="data1"> <td class="left">filtered</td> <td class="left" nowrap="nowrap">2005-2009</td> <td>100</td> <td>95</td> <td>11</td> <td>2376</td> <td class="padAst">109</td> <td>28.28</td> <td>3184</td> <td>74.62</td> <td>3</td> <td>15</td> <td>4</td> <td>244</td> <td>19</td> <td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>

He had an Average of 16 after 50 ODI's only 3 50's and 7 0's

In his last 100 Matches 95 innings 18 50+ Scores ... he's improving we just don't notice cause were always infatuated with numbers

[BD-Shardul]

Banner change? ;)

[al Furqaan]

People Forget how Dire His 1st 50 matches were

Look at his last 100 Matches


<table class="engineTable"><caption>Career averages</caption> <thead> <tr class="head"> <th class="left" nowrap="nowrap">
</th> <th title="playing span" class="left" nowrap="nowrap">Span</th> <th title="matches played" nowrap="nowrap">Mat</th> <th title="innings batted" nowrap="nowrap">Inns</th> <th title="not outs" nowrap="nowrap">NO</th> <th title="runs scored" nowrap="nowrap">Runs</th> <th title="highest innings score" class="padAst" nowrap="nowrap">HS</th> <th title="batting average" nowrap="nowrap">Ave</th> <th title="balls faced" nowrap="nowrap">BF</th> <th title="batting strike rate" nowrap="nowrap">SR</th> <th title="hundreds scored" nowrap="nowrap">100</th> <th title="scores between 50 and 99" nowrap="nowrap">50</th> <th title="ducks scored" nowrap="nowrap">0</th> <th title="boundary fours" nowrap="nowrap">4s</th> <th title="boundary sixes" nowrap="nowrap">6s</th> <th>
</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr class="data1"> <td class="left">unfiltered</td> <td class="left" nowrap="nowrap">2001-2009</td> <td>150</td> <td>143</td> <td>13</td> <td>3135</td> <td class="padAst">109</td> <td>24.11</td> <td>4365</td> <td>71.82</td> <td>3</td> <td>19</td> <td>11</td> <td>317</td> <td>28</td> <td style="padding: 1px 0px 1px 3px; white-space: nowrap;">Profile (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/55988.html)</td> </tr> </tbody> <tbody> <tr class="data1"> <td class="left">filtered</td> <td class="left" nowrap="nowrap">2005-2009</td> <td>100</td> <td>95</td> <td>11</td> <td>2376</td> <td class="padAst">109</td> <td>28.28</td> <td>3184</td> <td>74.62</td> <td>3</td> <td>15</td> <td>4</td> <td>244</td> <td>19</td> <td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>

He had an Average of 16 after 50 ODI's only 3 50's and 7 0's

In his last 100 Matches 95 innings 18 50+ Scores ... he's improving we just don't notice cause were always infatuated with numbers

his 50th ODI was the 100 at cardiff :notworthy:

[Blah]

People Forget how Dire His 1st 50 matches were

Look at his last 100 Matches


<table class="engineTable"><caption>Career averages</caption> <thead> <tr class="head"> <th class="left" nowrap="nowrap">
</th> <th title="playing span" class="left" nowrap="nowrap">Span</th> <th title="matches played" nowrap="nowrap">Mat</th> <th title="innings batted" nowrap="nowrap">Inns</th> <th title="not outs" nowrap="nowrap">NO</th> <th title="runs scored" nowrap="nowrap">Runs</th> <th title="highest innings score" class="padAst" nowrap="nowrap">HS</th> <th title="batting average" nowrap="nowrap">Ave</th> <th title="balls faced" nowrap="nowrap">BF</th> <th title="batting strike rate" nowrap="nowrap">SR</th> <th title="hundreds scored" nowrap="nowrap">100</th> <th title="scores between 50 and 99" nowrap="nowrap">50</th> <th title="ducks scored" nowrap="nowrap">0</th> <th title="boundary fours" nowrap="nowrap">4s</th> <th title="boundary sixes" nowrap="nowrap">6s</th> <th>
</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr class="data1"> <td class="left">unfiltered</td> <td class="left" nowrap="nowrap">2001-2009</td> <td>150</td> <td>143</td> <td>13</td> <td>3135</td> <td class="padAst">109</td> <td>24.11</td> <td>4365</td> <td>71.82</td> <td>3</td> <td>19</td> <td>11</td> <td>317</td> <td>28</td> <td style="padding: 1px 0px 1px 3px; white-space: nowrap;">Profile (http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/55988.html)</td> </tr> </tbody> <tbody> <tr class="data1"> <td class="left">filtered</td> <td class="left" nowrap="nowrap">2005-2009</td> <td>100</td> <td>95</td> <td>11</td> <td>2376</td> <td class="padAst">109</td> <td>28.28</td> <td>3184</td> <td>74.62</td> <td>3</td> <td>15</td> <td>4</td> <td>244</td> <td>19</td> <td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>He had an Average of 16 after 50 ODI's only 3 50's and 7 0's

In his last 100 Matches 95 innings 18 50+ Scores ... he's improving we just don't notice cause were always infatuated with numbers


To put things in to context Nathan Hauritz (http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/content/current/player/5593.html), Aussies number 9 batsmen, has better average than Ash. Point being, no matter however you look at his performance - considering the amount of chances he was given and the number of games he has played in his young age, he is mediocre at best. A 4 point average increase, over the last 4 years, is hardly something to brag about.

[Murad]

To put things in to context Nathan Hauritz (http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/content/current/player/5593.html), Aussies number 9 batsmen, has better average than Ash. Point being, no matter however you look at his performance - considering the amount of chances he was given and the number of games he has played in his young age, he is mediocre at best. A 4 point average increase, over the last 4 years, is hardly something to brag about.




Correction: 8 point average increase. He averaged 16 in 2005 when he played his 50th ODI.

In last 4 years, he's been averaging 28+ and you think this is medicore?

[Blah]

Correction: 8 point average increase. He averaged 16 in 2005 when he played his 50th ODI.

In last 4 years, he's been averaging 28+ and you think this is medicore?

28+ avg, in ODI for anyone who calls themselves a batsmen, is mediocre. Unless of course, we are content with mediocre performance. In which case, ash is a tremendous batsmen.

[Murad]

28+ avg, in ODI for anyone who calls themselves a batsmen, is mediocre. Unless of course, we are content with mediocre performance. In which case, ash is a tremendous batsmen.

Then all our batsmen are medicore as all of them averaging more or less same except Shakib.

And if 28 is medicore then Shakib is also a medicore player in your eyes. i wonder what is a good average in your eyes.. 50+?

[Blah]

Then all our batsmen are medicore as all of them averaging more or less same except Shakib.

And if 28 is medicore then Shakib is also a medicore player in your eyes. i wonder what is a good average in your eyes.. 50+?

Sakib is not a mediocre player. His average is 36, which is 12point more than 24 (ash). I hope you see enough difference between a batsmen with 36avg and someone with 24avg.

Sakib is the only decent batsmen we have, which explains our horrible performance against strong opponents.

You are right, I do think all our batsmen (except Sakib) are mediocre players in comparison to the top 6-7 teams of the world.

I think 35+ average is a decent ODI average and anything over 40 is sign of a good batsmen.

[Imteaz]

Congratulations.

[beshideshi]

I asked this question using the Feedback form.

Nice work mate, I also asked a very similar[read exact] question. Hope it gets answered next week.

[cricman]

Sakib is not a mediocre player. His average is 36, which is 12point more than 24 (ash). I hope you see enough difference between a batsmen with 36avg and someone with 24avg.

Sakib is the only decent batsmen we have, which explains our horrible performance against strong opponents.

You are right, I do think all our batsmen (except Sakib) are mediocre players in comparison to the top 6-7 teams of the world.

I think 35+ average is a decent ODI average and anything over 40 is sign of a good batsmen.

Cause Shakib, Tamim along with SN had the Opportunity to play Some of the Worst sides of all time Zimbabwe(06 Circa), Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Bermuda.

Remember he was averaging 50 with the Bat after a large sample size

So if player X is averaging 50 after (35 Caps?) and now is Averaging 36 than that might mean that player X has probably been averaging in the Mid 20's in some point if that stretch

[Blah]

Cause Shakib, Tamim along with SN had the Opportunity to play Some of the Worst sides of all time Zimbabwe(06 Circa), Kenya, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Bermuda.

Remember he was averaging 50 with the Bat after a large sample size

So if player X is averaging 50 after (35 Caps?) and now is Averaging 36 than that might mean that player X has probably been averaging in the Mid 20's in some point if that stretch

No, its not as black and white as you are portraying it. There is definitely an error margin when it comes to batting average which becomes better as you play more opponents of varied strength. The error margin is less obvious to Ash as it is to Sakib and others, because Ash played the most number of games with all type of opponents of different strength, so we can safely conclude within a small margin of errror, regardless of how much ash-lovers love ashraful; ashraful sucks at batting when you compare him to the best in the world. He doesn't only suck, he sucks so bad that he is barely as good as number 9 batsmen of Australia.

Sakib, within the error margin, is a significantly better batsmen than Ashraful. Perhaps a better comparison would be when sakib and others plays more games and their average settles down (upwards and downwards) to something that seems obvious to some of us.

But to conclude that ash is a good batsmen is an abomination, especially after (majority of) 150 games worth failures. He shall be best known as the luckiest player to still stay in the team after years of horrible performance.

The problem is not as much as that they play mediocre cricket, but that we are satisfied with such mediocre performance.

[Imteaz]

Sakib is not a mediocre player. His average is 36, which is 12point more than 24 (ash). I hope you see enough difference between a batsmen with 36avg and someone with 24avg.

Sakib is the only decent batsmen we have, which explains our horrible performance against strong opponents.

You are right, I do think all our batsmen (except Sakib) are mediocre players in comparison to the top 6-7 teams of the world.

I think 35+ average is a decent ODI average and anything over 40 is sign of a good batsmen.

Mark Waugh and Saeed Anwar average below 40 in ODI. They are not good? :)

[Blah]

Mark Waugh and Saeed Anwar average below 40 in ODI. They are not good? :)


Mark Waugh and Saeed Anwar is no Tendulker or Ponting; now you know why. Besides they are just barely below 40 avg, you are being pedantic here. As your average goes higher and you play more game, it becomes harder to increase it.

[Gowza]

talent doesn't automatically mean someone is a great player or a classy one, it just means if they work hard and develop that they could potentially be a great or classy player. averaging 28/29 over the last couple of years is pretty good by BD standards, it's nothing special by world standards though. his career ODI average is about 24, is that really the standard we want to be happy with?

[Imteaz]

Mark Waugh and Saeed Anwar is no Tendulker or Ponting; now you know why. Besides they are just barely below 40 avg, you are being pedantic here. As your average goes higher and you play more game, it becomes harder to increase it.

Accepted.:)

Same goes to Ashraful. It will be difficult for him to increase average. He may score more frequently now on (I myself have doubt about it). If he continue to play his 158, 100 (Aus), 114 or 87 innings don’t u think those are the sign of better than Shakib as a batter.

I am not countering your argument just providing a thought.

[Blah]

Accepted.:)

Same goes to Ashraful. It will be difficult for him to increase average. He may score more frequently now on (I myself have doubt about it). If he continue to play his 158, 100 (Aus), 114 or 87 innings don’t u think those are the sign of better than Shakib as a batter.
<o:p></o:p>

I am not countering your argument just providing a thought.



There is a clear distinction between "if he does.." and "what he did...", while I do understand your point; until he does what you hope he will do; we just have to rely on the hard facts.


Looking at the past trends, it seems highly unlikely; but not impossible.

[Imteaz]

Let's pray to God for making it possible. :)

[al Furqaan]

To put things in to context Nathan Hauritz (http://www.cricinfo.com/indvaus2009/content/current/player/5593.html), Aussies number 9 batsmen, has better average than Ash. Point being, no matter however you look at his performance - considering the amount of chances he was given and the number of games he has played in his young age, he is mediocre at best. A 4 point average increase, over the last 4 years, is hardly something to brag about.




thats a garbage stat comparison. hauritz has 11 not outs in 18 innings. if ash had proportionately that many not outs, without adding any extra runs, his average would nearly double! he's scored 3100 runs in 144 innings at an average of about 24 flat, if he had ash's average would be 55! meaning if ashraful batted at number 9 his average would be much greater than 24, even though in theory he'd have less opportunity to score runs. now you might argue that not outs are meaningful, but the only meaning not outs have is how well or poorly a batter holds onto his wicket. if you look at dismissals per wicket, you would see that ash is indeed better than hauritz, 34 vs 31.

as cricman and gowza have said, ash's average of 28-29 over the past few years - which is surprising and largely built on "minnow bashing" - is still pretty good in the bangladeshi context. only sakib and rock have done better, and perhaps tamim as well.

the problem with ashraful is he is utterly inconsistent. a 80+ knock against the best team in the world is tempered with 9 scores under 20 runs. other BD players, while just as inconsistent, have a more consistent score range, as well as considerably less talent hence evading scrutiny more readily.

whether we want to admit it or not, ashraful is a talisman as Sohel bhai put it. and until shakib came along the only one we had. as such it is difficult to drop him from the squad completely and explains why such a mediocre record is allowed to keep playing on the turntables.

i don't think ashraful is a good number 3 batsmen. we may persist with him for a while more, but i rather think that either raqib or mushy should bat at 3 to lend stability, with shakib at 4, and ash coming in at 5. an out of form ash can bat at 6 or 7 where he can take explosive advantage of a batting PP where the likes of riyad or naeem would be less likely to succeed.

[al Furqaan]

in terms of actual performance by the numbers, ash has done no worse than anyone else we have (except shakib, tamim, maybe rock). but those are all very much "next generation players" for BD. all other players old and new, have records which are either less than or at best equal to ash's.

the problem is in the production/perception ratios not production alone. on production alone ash is well ahead of his peers in runs and 50+ scores, and well placed in terms of average. however its on production to perception of ability/role ratio that ash has failed. we expect a batsmen of his calibre/experience/role to average 35+. whereas when shakib first came onto the scene he was not expected by overwhelming majority of fans to become a cricketer of any real merit. ash came onto the scene with shades of tendulkar from the 2nd innings of his first test. hence perception was forever ingrained, whether its an accurate perception or not.

for example, lets say alok comes out and scores 25 runs. Rubu will think that was an extraordinary performance from him, whereas Sohel will think he underachieved. their reactions will be correspond accordingly.

[beshideshi]

I believe Ashraful is the best batsman in Bangladesh. His technique is marvelous, his average is rubbish for his talent, but as many are discussing above, its not too shabby for a Bangladeshi batsman.
Shakib played more ODIs against the likes of zim, where ASH started his career when Bangladesh were a gazilion miles away from Zimbabwe even.
Also, the magnitude of Ash's innings and the effect it has on BD cricket is unthinkable. For a second lets assume BD never gave birth to mohammed Ashraful. What are we going to miss?
1. Youngest test centurion
2. the win which ended our 5 year drought
3. The best test innings by a Bangladeshi
4. a win against Australia
5. Conquering the no.1 team in the WC.
and so many other things that i cant even recall atm.
Stats doesnt tell the whole story, Sachins' 100 in WACA is regarded as one of the best test innings played in australia. Ashraful is the best batsman in Bangladesh, and SAH has to come a long way before he reaches Ash's standards.
[ps. i do think SAH is a great batter, but not better than Ash]

[al Furqaan]

I believe Ashraful is the best batsman in Bangladesh. His technique is marvelous, his average is rubbish for his talent, but as many are discussing above, its not too shabby for a Bangladeshi batsman.
Shakib played more ODIs against the likes of zim, where ASH started his career when Bangladesh were a gazilion miles away from Zimbabwe even.
Also, the magnitude of Ash's innings and the effect it has on BD cricket is unthinkable. For a second lets assume BD never gave birth to mohammed Ashraful. What are we going to miss?
1. Youngest test centurion
2. the win which ended our 5 year drought
3. The best test innings by a Bangladeshi
4. a win against Australia
5. Conquering the no.1 team in the WC.
and so many other things that i cant even recall atm.
Stats doesnt tell the whole story, Sachins' 100 in WACA is regarded as one of the best test innings played in australia. Ashraful is the best batsman in Bangladesh, and SAH has to come a long way before he reaches Ash's standards.
[ps. i do think SAH is a great batter, but not better than Ash]

this part is wrong. we're confusing inherent talent (ash) with productivity/performance (sakib).

i agree with all 5 things you listed. but that cannot detract from the fact that ashraful needs to do more, and anyone who does more than him, is necessarily better than him, all things considered. for example, SN has a far better average, but since all he does is beat zimbabwe into a pulp, he's not considered. shakib, whatever he lacks in talent or technique, delivers when it matters and delivers with the smirk of dominance. ash does that rarely, though he's done it on the biggest stages against the best teams in the world.

perhaps a lesser role for ash is what will propel his career forward. we've often said ash never had support or a mentor early in his career (asides from bashar in tests) like sachin had gavaskar, and lara had viv. well, now ash has shakib, tamim, and mushy who can all take the pressure off of his shoulders in both Tests and ODIs.

on batting aesthetics, technique, talent, ash may be above shakib, but the numbers don't lie: shakib is Boss because he gets it done. ashraful, tamim, shakib, and mushy are our cornerstone batsmen, with Rock, aftab and others playing auxillary roles. as ATMR will tell you, a solid and exciting core is forming, and 2015 might be the Year of the Tiger.

[Beamer]

What an absurd and irrational understanding of the game! If Ash was being compared to other top order players around the world to compare his Avg, SR and other pure batting stats, then we can see without an argument that he hasn't lived up to his potential. Its easy. Compared to Ponting, Kallis, Tendulkar to name a few, from among top order batsmen around the world, Ash's stats are not even close to comparable. But, when we start comparing him to a Hauritz, who has played only 35 or so ODI's and who bats at no.9, then claim " he is barely as good as Aus. no.9", the whole arugement becomes a non-starter. I am sure even Mr.Hauritz will disagee. If given an option to pick between Ash and Hauritz in a match ( and lets say to come at no.9 ), hypothetically - Ponting will pick Ash, anytime, anyday, over Hauritz. He might even take Rafiq over Hauritz, though Rafiq's avg is worse than Hauritz, but at least its a debate as we are talking about two lower order batsmen in that case.

[Raynman]

Speaking of #9s, how can you forget about the great Mahbubul Alam who has a 40.50 average ;)

[Beamer]

Speaking of #9s, how can you forget about the great Mahbubul Alam who has a 40.50 average ;)

Indeed. BTW, don't forget that Robin is averaging more than some dude named Sehwag, who has a 34 avg, hence Sehwag is not as good as our no.9 :floor:

[Tigers_eye]

Congrats for the 150 ODIs. I am with Raynman. He still has 2 more to go to get to 150 ODIs for BD. Best of luck. Looking forward to the next two batting paradise innings he will play inshallah at Chittagong.

+++

Blah is right. Do not compare Ash with anyone else. For a top order, he has the lowest average who played 150 matches. Many things can be the reason. Most his fault but the team he is in also should be considered. Hopefully he will justify his 1st down position and be consistant. I would be happy if he gets 30+ Ave (without notouts) from here on out for the next 50 games.

Time to step up!! No more lame excuses.