There are many Ashraful's bashers and haters here and also there are loyal and genuine fans. For all the fans, I would like to share this with you.
I was watching at a program called"Cricket America" and ever so often they feature a player profile of a young rising star and to my surprise it was no other but Mohammad ASHRAFUL
The feature was introduced by one Mr Utpul Shuvro of Protham,who praised Ashraful and referred to him as a lucky find for BD and who has become a dedicated cricketer.
After this Ashraful was interviewed, I think that this was before the 20/20 tour.
He began by saying that football was more popular than cricket and his love of cricket began when he used to accompany his cousin Abdul Ahmed Poneer who was playing for the second division league.He used to watch all his matches and he is the one who influenced him to play cricket by making him practice bowling and batting when he was about 8 to 9 yrs old.
He said that he began as a net boy at 9 yrs of age at Sidhesdheswary Cricket ground just to watch the seniors play cricket, then the captain gave him the opportunity to bowl and bat with the seniors. He played for Amarjyti club as a leg spinner. He spoke fondly of his mentor Wahidul Ghani, of his influence and how he encouraged him to play against the seniors at 10-11 yrs of age. He played a lot of cricket, but his dream was to play for the National team.He got his first break when he was chosen as a leg spinner in the team playing against SL. He came in to bat at NO 7 in the first innings and made 26 runs, then his captain Naimur Rahman told him to bat at NO6 in the second innings. He had Aminul Islam as a good partner.
When asked how he managed to bat against Murali, he said that he looked carefully at a video of the SL game against Pakistan where Murali took 12 wickets. He looked very carefully at his bowling style and also his fingers, He was the danger and had to devise a plan in his mind how to play him. The plan worked and he made 116 runs and his maiden test century at 17 years of age as the youngest test centurion has given him a distinct identity in world cricket.
He also spoke fondly about some of his successes, prays that he can repeat them, spoke of his failures, that he could have done much better in his career, but is trying very hard now also with the added burden of captaincy.
Shaun Williams was also interviewed and he said that Ash is a dedicated cricketer, has been for the greatest part of his life, and always talk about uplifting BD cricket and doing what is best for BD.He gets along well with his team and is very much a leader and mentor.
century agaiDuring the interview, they showed many clips of Ash playing cricket from the time he was 10 yrs of age up to present day. It ended with Ash playing some of his beautiful stroke play against SA and his last nst SL.
Weeks ago, they did a player profile on Rahim also, and someone told me that they did one on Tamim which i did not see.
I was so happy to have been lucky to watch this, Ash was so calm and relaxed and one can see how he loves cricket and his dedication.
I hope that everyone can see that even at seventeen yrs of age, Ash in his mind thought about the way he can handle Murali. He shoud study all the other bowlers and devise a plan in his mind how to play them too, then I believe that he can really be great batsman.
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