[al Furqaan]

I am always a proponent of natural talent for a couple of reasons. Natural talent is inborn, therefore it appears early and lets a player have a maximally long career. Little to no need for him to spend years refining his game at the domestic/academy level. Secondly, natural talent has a higher ceiling...players possessing it have a higher maximum potential.

That said, the difference in what Ashraful has produced versus that which has been produced by Naeem Islam should suffice to say what Bangladesh needs right now, barring the odd exception (Anamul, Taskin). We need the best possible consistent results, no longer the jodi laigga jai magic of Cardiff. That was ok for us at that time, not now when the world expects more from us. We should expect more from ourselves.

That being said, natural talent is natural talent and there isn't any substitute for it. Should Ashraful regain serious form at anytime in the future, I'll be supporting him again.