Times up for Ashraful...Seriously this time!

[Shakil_TX]

Hi Guys! I am opening my first thread with a heavy heart and lot of frustration. I have been religiously and passionately following Bangladesh Cricket since we won the ICC final against Kenya and made it to the One Day International arena. That was one the proudest moment of my life. I have been watching my beloved team performing way below per and their potential level over and over again, yesterday was just the tip of the ice burg for me. No doubt our players have talent and some players have had enough International exposure to learn the trade of the game by now. But what really sicken me and upset me when our players keep making the same basic and elementary mistakes over and over again.

I have lived in Zimbabwe almost for 8 years back in t he 90s and very familiar with their cricket structure. The team that defeated us yesterday is not even their second stream, more like "C" team or third stream team . Can you imagine if we were to face a full strength Zimbabwe side with Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Guy Whitall, Flower brothers...etc we would simply be blown away.

We went out playing underestimating Zimbabwe and taking them lightly. The Zimbabweans kept it simple and stuck to the basics and did not try anything extra ordinary. I don't see why Tanim Iqbal was not watching his partner when he decided to take the second run and I also don't understand why Ashraful would have his back turned the other way and not watch his partner either. Then right after that I don't see how on earth he goes and plays that lofted shot right in to the fielders hand.

It will be unfair if I criticize the entire team Bangladeshi team. As a matter of fact last year I think we have done descently well with out bowling efforts. I believe in number of occasions we have bowled exceedingly well against some major teams and actually the bowlers paved way for possible victories. Unfortunately out it's the batting and captaincy that has let us down.

As much as I love and cheer for Ashraful I am afraid he is the number one culprit for the debacle we had yesterday and in lot's of other instances. In my opinion his captaincy has been very poor. Yes in some matches he may have made some good bowling changes and field placements and caused some trouble to the opposition and that was it.
Overall his performance as a captain and with the bat has been way below per.

The main characteristics of being a captain is to be able to lead your team from the front and show guts, character and intelligence. Look at Graeme Smith of South Africa. He assumed captaincy at the tender age of 21 and look where he has taken South Africa to. His recent powerful performance against mighty Australia will speak for himself. He led the team from the front.

When a captain performs and leads from the front, trust me it will rub on to the rest of the team and it will be only a matter of time that the rest of the team will start performing well too. The whole of 2008 Ashraful has failed to lead as a captain and he has been given ample opportunities . I did not see him making any effort to bring about any changes the way he plays his game and I honestly I don't see him changing at all. If he has not changed his game by now I am afraid he probably never will.

So in my opinion it is time to strip him from his captaincy and bring someone else. I think Shakib has come out strong lately and demonstrated that he has a cool and level head and has a lot of heart and character. In my opinion he has the ability to lead the team from the front and I think he is ready for the captaincy. I just don't want to see Ashraful as a captain anymore. BCB can keep him as a batsman and let him struggle for his place in the National Team like the rest of the batsmen. That way he will probably learn something.

Bottom line is we have given this guy way too many chances. He can not blame anyone else but himself. The fans, Bangladesh Cricket Board and above all the entire nation of Bangladesh has laid their hopes on him and given him chances one after another. Playing for your National Team and your County under any capacity is an honor and privilege this is not a "Shushor Barir Abdar". I think Ashraful has forgotten that and someone needs to send him a stark reminder!!

[Akib]

The problem is, can Sakib handle the burden. He is young, and at the moment he is usually carrying the burden of the team, being the only player who is performing. To put captaincy as well might be too much for him.

[Miraz]

Most of us agree that it's time to bring the change.

BC Articles and Features

Ashraful needs to go
Khondaker Mirazur Rahman
The same script, the same fate and with every repetition, Bangladesh falls further behind in international cricket. Once again we see the scene of a “bewildered” Mohammad Ashraful looking at his non-striking partner in disbelief and finally trudging back to the pavilion cursing his fate for yet another idiotic dismissal at a crucial moment. His cavalier attitude towards cricket has been a detrimental influence on a youthful Bangladesh side that follow more often than not their skipper in playing reckless cricket. This is how Mohammad Ashraful is leading Bangladesh. And this is why a team with immense potential is consistently failing to compete at the top level
Read article »


Now, the main question is whether our decision makers are aware enough to correct the mistake!!

[Shakil_TX]

Originally Posted by Akib
The problem is, can Sakib handle the burden. He is young, and at the moment he is usually carrying the burden of the team, being the only player who is performing. To put captaincy as well might be too much for him.

Hi Akib! You make a good point. However in my opinion leadership quality is something that you have within your self and has little do with your age. As I pointed out Graeme Smith became captain at the age of 21 and has turned out to be the most successful captain for SA.

Yes you are right that Shakib is young, but I see the determination, consistency, character and persistense in Shakib that no one else on our currenty has. These are the key qualities for the making of a good captain. I am not saying that we impose captaincy on Shakib, of course this is something that he will have to consent to and feel 100% confident.

[scoilaheez]

Originally Posted by Akib
The problem is, can Sakib handle the burden. He is young, and at the moment he is usually carrying the burden of the team, being the only player who is performing. To put captaincy as well might be too much for him.

That's the heart of the matter, and i think that would be the reason why ash should continue as captain for now. Groom Sakib as captain for the future but atm keep ash as capt

[djnaved]

Originally Posted by Akib
The problem is, can Sakib handle the burden. He is young, and at the moment he is usually carrying the burden of the team, being the only player who is performing. To put captaincy as well might be too much for him.

gosh, did u really forget about dhoni and smith formula?

dhoni- debut in int'l carreer in 2004-2005
smith- debut in int'l career in 2002-2003

dhoni.. ganguli,shewag,tendulkar, laxman, yubraj, jaheer, harbhajan ke tekka dia captain hoice......now look at the dashing india team

smith ... kallis,boucher, gibbs, mckengi, ntini ke tekka dia captain hoice...just imagine akhon smither team kon porjaye ache......

leadershiper jonno lage patience/agressive monobhab/ intelligence.....eishob shob sakiber moddhei ache

[aniksh1]

Shakib is the Habibul Bashar of this generation!!!

[tiger_club]

seriously i don't know what to do with him.. ar jodi lojja thakto thaole onek agey captaincy theke shore darato.. such a shameless person.

[akabir77]

I think if a captain of the team plays a shot to get out in that situation no matter what others do in that team they all r thinking that we r playing in a losing cause. (If you have played cricket you will know what i mean). And evidence is even when I was thinking nayeem, mash and alam can take us over the line the players didn't and hence we see two stupids run outs. Why did they didn't take the 3rd power play when mash was in? when a player like him and can hit 4 and 6 to murali why would he play like this?

so conclusion is either the players where thinking the way i said above or they took money.

Hence either way a captain (no matter if he is super man, spider man or hulk) of a team who thinks like this has to take the whole responsibilty and resigne... or may be in this case kicked out...

I had enough of this and seriously thinking and pray ICC takes away our test status so that i don't have to watch these clowns anymore... looks like they don't know what they have and once its gone they will then realize and the management also have to take the blame... they have been taking down the seniours from day one... If i had a gun i would start shooting all these lipus, durjoys, faruks and akrams... they r killing our cricket.

[akabir77]

ash is such a stupid that he feels anger when he can't reverseswipe murali and tries it three time and gets out but doesn't feel angered when he can't cross 50 after a 100...

he is a brainless moran and he is making tamim, rakibul like him...

[tiger_club]

Well said Kabir bhai.. ar bhalo lage na.. sob jaygay politics.. desh ta to noshto hoysei.. akhon amader cricket o oi pothe jasse..

[djnaved]

Originally Posted by akabir77
he is a brainless moran and he is making tamim, rakibul like him...

100% agree...tamim ar rakibul akhon asher poth dhorse je kibhabe 10-20 run korar por out hoite hoy...guru tar shishhoke shikhabe eita shabhabik bepar..lol

[wiseshah]

i have no objection about sakib's captaincy, he is one of the cool headed player and more mentally matured than other in the bangladesh team and any team would love to have him.But he is the only performing cricketer at the moment as a bowler, batsman and fielder. may be captaincy will be too much pressure for him. I dont want to lose great multi skilled player like sakib for captaincy.

ashraful's cataincy in my opinion is ok, only his performance in the field and making comments at the end of the day is irritating. But he is the best player and is enjoying captaincy, so i am in favor of his captaincy.

mehrab Jr--- has good captaincy record for under 19 and BCCB XI team, he might be considerable
Mushfiq rahim---He is kind of permanent member in the team and has good captaincy record
nayeem--- has captained BCCB A team
mashrafe------ not sure how he will be as a captain, he is superstitious and still childish in his attitude
Razzaq------ could have been good option, but he is banned, if he return, i think he will be a good candidate

[tiger_club]

what next? series white wash by Zim.. do you think they've forgotten what we did to them in 2006/07.. they're hungry and looking for revenge.. our dumb head Ash doesn't get the point.. he will make us toil.. trust me.. soon we’ll be losing our 9th spot and that would be the end of it..

[Ajfar]

our entire game plan pretty much revolves around ash..but he's way to dumb to understand that..i mean why in the world wud u go down the track to hit over when the scorecard reads 32/3 n there is a fielder waitiing right down there..i mean i'm sure if he hit it for six everyone wud have been but still thats not something a captain shud be doing when his team needs him... his time is definately up...

[Shakil_TX]

Originally Posted by djnaved
gosh, did u really forget about dhoni and smith formula?

dhoni- debut in int'l carreer in 2004-2005
smith- debut in int'l career in 2002-2003

dhoni.. ganguli,shewag,tendulkar, laxman, yubraj, jaheer, harbhajan ke tekka dia captain hoice......now look at the dashing india team

smith ... kallis,boucher, gibbs, mckengi, ntini ke tekka dia captain hoice...just imagine akhon smither team kon porjaye ache......

leadershiper jonno lage patience/agressive monobhab/ intelligence.....eishob shob sakiber moddhei ache

Ditto That! As I stated before leadership has little to do with your age, it is something intrinsic and comes natural in a person. Ashraful was never ready and never had the quality to become a good captain. We had to pick him because he was the best choice out of the lot at that time. Miraz is absolutely right, Ashraful's reckless and careless attitude is now starting to rub on the junior players and that is alarming and needs to stop.

Now as for Shakib, the past year the guy has shown a lot of mental strength, determination, maturity (ten times more than Ashraful), dedication and character. He has made his mark and I believe is very capable of captaining the Bangladesh team.

As for people who are concernced that he is too young and making him captain will ruin his game. Contrary to that I belive making him captain will turn him into a better player.
Like I said the guy is tough and I believe he can handle the pressue.

Again I am not suggesting that BCB impose the captaincy on Shakib. He should only be made captain if he wants to do it and feels 100% confident. If it turns out that it is affecting his game and it is too much for him to handle then BCB can easily relieve him from captaincy and put someone else in as the captain. All I am saying that I feel Shakib is ready and it is worth givin him a shot at the captaincy position.

[Shaan]

So far looking at most of yours comment, observation, scrutiny and analysis this Ashraful captaincy issue I myself started to believe that this is time for Ashraful to leave the captaincy and concentrate more one his batting. As far we all agree that he doesn't have the guts, the determination, characteristics and learn quickly from past mistakes which are by the way not suitable ornament for a captain role model. On the otherhand he became like rotten apple which rotten the other apples nearby. So, for the sake of the team and of Ashraful it is time he just step out from this post with his usual smiley face.

[Megh]

Originally Posted by djnaved
leadershiper jonno lage patience/agressive monobhab/ intelligence.....eishob shob sakiber moddhei ache

Sob chaite boro kotha
Sakib is calm,patient and he also take some risks when it's needed. he is the best choice. and if he also fails. then we should play without captain. Moreover Sakib has tha passion for cricket which is from the heart. And Ash just shows he has passion but only thing he has that he is a fluke, nothiing but a big big fluke.

[Megh]

Originally Posted by Shaan
So far looking at most of yours comment, observation, scrutiny and analysis this Ashraful captaincy issue I myself started to believe that this is time for Ashraful to leave the captaincy and concentrate more one his batting. As far we all agree that he doesn't have the guts, the determination, characteristics and learn quickly from past mistakes which are by the way not suitable ornament for a captain role model. On the otherhand he became like rotten apple which rotten the other apples nearby. So, for the sake of the team and of Ashraful it is time he just step out from this post with his usual smiley face.

that cracky headed ashraful said he is not leave the captaincy after the Aus tour. he said he is doing far better than when he wasn't captain. his avg is getting better. he said something like that. stupid-moron-fool

[akabir77]

Ash has zero management skills. He doesn't even know how to communicate with players who r just outside the team so that they fill like they can be back. he doesn't have vision to see who r the future players for bd.

I have seen close hand how a captain keeps in touch with every players in and outside the squad. Shujon was best in this and hence he was the best captain we had. bulbul was good too but he was captian in wrong time. Habibul was also pretty good at this... and if u agree or not thats why we got so many wins under him...

Ash has zero and if stupid people like lipu and co can't see it and doesn't care then they doesn't care about bd cricket. no one will follow a stupid leader and care about as much... and that is clearly evident in our teams body language...

[gunda]

Brother shakil, i love your constructive writting skills, you hit the nail on the head. But can i just say to you .. nothings gona ever happen, nothings gona ever change. Its the same old story over and over again.If you read my earlier post's in BC when i first came you would see starkling resemblence to what your saying now, although you put it more constuctively, i used to say it how it is and used to get furry of members attacking me for saying a word against BD team.
So as the month's went by, i realised was no point of me making post's or expressing my anger.
However i toned down on my anger here on BC (But not in real life).
I admire you for seeing how BD Team is, (bunch of spineless phatetic losers.)
The problem is this, We Probashi outside BD want change, we want results, we want good decent players coming through, and we want a decent board who has a long term vision for bangladesh cricket, but unfortunately most of the ppl back home in BD does't, there is no point us who live abroad raising our voices when the ppl of BD don't do a damn thing about it!
they should get rid of these morons at BCB.
Instead of building decent infrastructure and nurturing new talents, they fill there own pockets.
what happend to that world cup money?
that was for investing in Bangladesh's cricket?
All these BCB guys took it all, they are currupt just like our government in BD.
They don't give a bull about BD and the mockery other teams make of us, they just here to fill there own pockets and get a great mansion and get a car etc.
So my dear brother Shakil ..nothings gona ever happen unless the ppl in bangladesh stand up and take their cricket back!

[desirocker]

Ashraful ekta bissho behaya . He wont leave

[Shakil_TX]

Originally Posted by gunda
Brother shakil, i love your constructive writting skills, you hit the nail on the head. But can i just say to you .. nothings gona ever happen, nothings gona ever change. Its the same old story over and over again.If you read my earlier post's in BC when i first came you would see starkling resemblence to what your saying now, although you put it more constuctively, i used to say it how it is and used to get furry of members attacking me for saying a word against BD team.
So as the month's went by, i realised was no point of me making post's or expressing my anger.
However i toned down on my anger here on BC (But not in real life).
I admire you for seeing how BD Team is, (bunch of spineless phatetic losers.)
The problem is this, We Probashi outside BD want change, we want results, we want good decent players coming through, and we want a decent board who has a long term vision for bangladesh cricket, but unfortunately most of the ppl back home in BD does't, there is no point us who live abroad raising our voices when the ppl of BD don't do a damn thing about it!
they should get rid of these morons at BCB.
Instead of building decent infrastructure and nurturing new talents, they fill there own pockets.
what happend to that world cup money?
that was for investing in Bangladesh's cricket?
All these BCB guys took it all, they are currupt just like our government in BD.
They don't give a bull about BD and the mockery other teams make of us, they just here to fill there own pockets and get a great mansion and get a car etc.
So my dear brother Shakil ..nothings gona ever happen unless the ppl in bangladesh stand up and take their cricket back!

Dear Gunda Brother. I hope that's not your real name and hopefully you don't come and beat me up. I promise I will let you be the "Boro Bhai" or Senior in my "para / Moholla " I also promise that I will not sit and drink "cha" in your spot at the local tea stall... (just pulling your leg bro).

Anyway, yes you are probably right, knowing how things go back at home most likely nothing is gonna happen. I am a kind of person that usually keeps his opinion to himself. But after seeing how our batsmen performed, specially seeing how Ashraful performed "Rage shorir ta joila gelo bhai". I could not take it anymore and just wanted to voice my opinion. As I stated in my thread that I have lived in Zimbabwe for sometime and I am very familiar with their cricket. The team we lost to is not even their B team bro, it's more like their "C" team or third stream team. Now loosing to a third stream...now that's outrageous bro!!!

We have actually played quite a lot of International cricket lately and up against some big teams. We should have easily won this game, but instead our batsmen got complacent and took the situation for granted and played like idiots (except for Shakib of course). I have been following Bangladesh cricket for a long time and it looks like to me we have not progressed at rate that we should have.

Anyway, it is nice knowing you and chatting with you bro. By the way Gunda Bhai, sorry I can not give you any more "Clud Chadas" anymore....

[crikfreak]

i can think most of us here wud agree tht ash's time is up.... and i feel sakib is ready... i mean... i know he is young... but age doesnt matter if u've got the mentality and quality.. and sakib has them both....... so i think its abt tym sum1 did sumthing.....