[Imtiazk]

Mahmudullah at No.7 in ODi's is like a fish out of water ! I believe he is a very talented cricketer and technically one of our better batsmen. He is also a better than average bowler - better than people expect him to be.

I would always include him in tests. But if we are going to take him in ODI's, he has to bat up the order. This is basically the Junaid / Rakibul / Mahmudullah slot. Maybe there is room for two. The consolidators, shall we say. But I will come to that later.

I have not written in banglacricket.com for many months. Frankly, I am a little disappointed. I was in Bangladesh for two matches in the WC. The WI debacle and the enthralling victory at Chittagong. For someone like me, England based for over 35 years, it added a certain poignancy.

The New Zealand success though deserved had gone to everyone's heads. I really mean everyone. Does giving away valuable plots of land which many hard working people would not be able to afford in their lifetime, really motivate cricketers ? Or, does it seem to them that life is really easy ! If the win against New Zealand merited securing a plot, the debacle against the West Indies should equally mean a penalty - withdrawl of the plot . What is sauce for the goose must surely be sauce for the gander !

Coming back to Mahmudullah, either he goes up the order or he should not play in ODI's. He cannot accelerate - not everybody is a Irfan Pathan. I strongly believe that Sakib under bowls him. Not just today, but in most days. Naeem is actually better suited in this position. The other guy is Farhad Reza. I don't know where he is now. The game now-a-days is already lost by the time he [ they ] comes to bat and then all they do is fatten up the averages. Chittagong being the glorious exception. Here too Mahmud was the risk averse batsman though this was still necessary as Rubel was yet to come in. The target also was not very high. But Shafi won us the match.

Naeem and Junaid clearly have been made scapegoats. Why not Mushfiq ? Why can't we have Zahurul instead.

My abiding memory of the World Cup from the Bangladesh debacle point of view was at the end of the 15th over against South Africa. On the television, I saw Bangladesh had played out 74 dot balls. Out of 90 balls ! Next ball Mushfiq was out.

Even if we had scored 35 of those balls in singles we would have been 71/5 and not 36/5. More importantly, by rotating, the bowlers would not have been so dominant so probably would have lost fewer wickets.

This problem is endemic with Bangladesh. "Hoy Chokka noy Mokka " as the saying goes. I read somewhere that Bangladesh holds the record for scoring the highest percentage of runs scored through boundaries. Note the record is for percentages and not runs.

I suggest that as these overpaid "stars" are contracted anyway, during the training session, they should play against each other a match every week. Except, with one rule change. No boundaries [ 4s or 6s ] will be counted. All runs scored must be by running . Not only will that teach them to take singles but equally important they should always look for 2s and 3s by attacking the first run. This is typical of Australia, South Africa etc. Less so the sub continental sides.