Ashraful's interview with Prothom-Alo

[Murad]

Nice interview by Utpal Shuvro. He has asked some interesting questions in this interview. Ash also answered them nicely this time. Few of them ofcoures a bit laughable.






Prothom-Alo

[nycpro96]

a short translation please

[AsifTheManRahman]

Cocky, very cocky.

[djnaved]

i said it earlier:

Originally Posted by djnaved
mash jotoi kotha ba obamar moton interview dik na keno......or ashol kaj hoilo team ke control kora.......perform kora, teamer consistency build up korte shahajjo kora.............amara oneker interview pore boli joss interview, amazing interview, excellent interview.............but first thing first............he needs to perform as a captain and as a player....so also his team mates need to perform.............we expect some good performance in WI tour...................

now, again i have to say, bd playerrder agea performance show korte hobe........consistency dekhaite hobe.......then they can give obama type of interview to the media

FIRST THING FIRST, SHOW YOUR PERFORMANCE AND CONSISTENCY............

[nahaz]

I kind of like his cockiness..means he cares, and has pride in his batting. But...he better be more consistent if he wants to really make an impact for the team. Just the statement that team lost coz he didn't perform is too cocky. He should've mentioned how good the others were, just to keep u fans happy.

But good he's knows he's not performing. And I like his outlook on how he says anything he's done so far is bonus, since he's only test-age cricketer now. And he's right about our team being young.

One thing...I hope he can start playing mentoring roles to one or two new batsmen in the team. And glad to see practice fifty. Hope he converts it to some real runs

[Ajfar]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
Cocky, very cocky.

gulli maren cocky..beta run korte parlei hoise

[BanCricFan]

I never doubted his attitude. It was his lack of application and thoughtfulness. Great to know that he wants to be the captain again...and he is convinced that he will be in the future. Admirable attitude, indeed.

He never lacked confidence. It is usually his over-confidence that brings about his downfalls.
Fool ta ekmatro Allah jane kundin buddhiman hobe!

[Akib]

Well he did get 50 today (top score). Now if he carrys this forward and is consistant day in and day out, we'll all be happy.

[nycpro96]

can someone give me a translation in english of the article please.

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by BanCricFan
I never doubted his attitude. It was his lack of application and thoughtfulness. Great to know that he wants to be the captain again...and he is convinced that he will be in the future. Admirable attitude, indeed.

He never lacked confidence. It is usually his over-confidence that brings about his downfalls.
Fool ta ekmatro Allah jane kundin buddhiman hobe!

Sorol, soja ebong sottobadee. Me like it.

[bujhee kom]

Toluar haate kheluar!

[Sohel]

The trouble with Mohammad Ashraful Matin has always been the unholy combination of his lack of cricketing intelligence and education, volatile psyche, and natural ability to play cricket heavily flavored with all those strange, baffling things that perpetually play in and around his alleged mind like a CD stuck on "repeat".

I expect more of the same. I expect him to produce some good to epic performances, by our own standards that is, to take some pressure off and create enough wiggle room for himself. After that, he'll do just enough to keep his nose above water until that's no longer good enough. Then we'll see another little squirt of good performances and the pattern repeating itself until someone substantially better replaces him. Not likely to happen in the near future until and unless we overhaul our joke of a cricket infrastructure, for a test playing nation that is, and finally get what we've been promised for far too long.

We're stuck with this gadha. But captaincy again? Not likely. We need family members murdered for that to happen.

Really enjoyed the read BTW ...

[auntu]

Nice interview. He had to check himself in several occasions where he was delivered with some loose deliveries. Maturing?

[mahbubH]

I like this part :

When we win there are many people (board officials!) to share, many of them claim their contributions to the win .... but when we lose nobody is there to share, we (players) all alone

[hoodlum]

তবে এবার মনে হচ্ছে আশরাফুল জিদের ওপর আছে। তার মধ্যে ভাল করার একটা তাড়না আছে। প্রথম ম্যাচ এ সেটারই একটা ঝলক দেখলাম। আশা করছি সে সেটা বজায় রাখতে পারবে।

[Nadim]

Originally Posted by hoodlum
তবে এবার মনে হচ্ছে আশরাফুল জিদের ওপর আছে। তার মধ্যে ভাল করার একটা তাড়না আছে। প্রথম ম্যাচ এ সেটারই একটা ঝলক দেখলাম। আশা করছি সে সেটা বজায় রাখতে পারবে।

আশরাফুল কে ভাল খেলতেই হবে!!!

[yaseer]

His interviews with media has been improved and we have seen in the T20 WC also. He showed some sign of maturity in talking to media in recent past. It was just a continuation.

Nice to see he is no short of confidence about himself and his future as a cricketer. Also its always been the problem for Ashraful that his confidence comes out as over-confidence while he is applying himself in the field. This was always his downfall and its still there as a threat. But at least he is maturing and talking like a matured one but can't say anything positive about him on the basis of this as we have been bluffed so many time by this guy in the past. He showed glimpses so many times before, this time no positive dream until he performs in the field to the expectation.

[auntu]

Originally Posted by hoodlum
তবে এবার মনে হচ্ছে আশরাফুল জিদের ওপর আছে। তার মধ্যে ভাল করার একটা তাড়না আছে। প্রথম ম্যাচ এ সেটারই একটা ঝলক দেখলাম। আশা করছি সে সেটা বজায় রাখতে পারবে।

সমস্যাও আছে। এক পঞ্চাশে যদি কোটা পূরণ করে ফেললাম এই মনোভাবও বিপদের কারন হতে পারে। আশা করি এই জেদ থাকবে বহুদিন অনন্ত এই সফরের শেষ বল পর্যন্ত।

[yaseer]

Originally Posted by auntu

সমস্যাও আছে। এক পঞ্চাশে যদি কোটা পূরণ করে ফেললাম এই মনোভাবও বিপদের কারন হতে পারে। আশা করি এই জেদ থাকবে বহুদিন অনন্ত এই সফরের শেষ বল পর্যন্ত।

True, one good innings satisfies his hunger for quite a long time.

[Sohel]

This is a dud-bhat match. He'll do well in a real match or two, even have a relatively good tour, before comfortably diving back into the pattern we know too well.

An interesting observation in the interview. He observed that he didn't perform well in most test matches where Bangladesh did relatively well. AS IF his performance in those matches would've made the critical difference. Now, his epic 158* against India was during a horribly losing effort. Does that mean that we have a better chance when he does NOT do well? Would it not have been infinitely simpler for him to mitigate some of the self importance and say that our batsmen need to click as unit, and subsequently give our bowlers the better chance to win the match?

Sure he played a critical part in our most of our memorable victories, but so did the rest of the team. AFAIK, total team effort brought us victory as we outperformed the opposition in every department. His remarkable 90 something against England didn't give us a W because the team didn't click.

Ego issues if you ask me. No doubt egged on by fans such as myself who once considered him "talismanic".

[AsifTheManRahman]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
An interesting observation in the interview. He observed that he didn't perform well in most test matches where Bangladesh did relatively well. AS IF his performance in those matches would've made the critical difference. Now, his epic 158* against India was during a horribly losing effort. Does that mean that we have a better chance when he does NOT do well? Would it not have been infinitely simpler for him to mitigate some of the self importance and say that our batsmen need to click as unit, and subsequently give our bowlers the better chance to win the match?

Yeah, I wasn't able to grasp his logic there either.

[Zeeshan]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
This is a dud-bhat match. He'll do well in a real match or two, even have a relatively good tour, before comfortably diving back into the pattern we know too well.

An interesting observation in the interview. He observed that he didn't perform well in most test matches where Bangladesh did relatively well. AS IF his performance in those matches would've made the critical difference. Now, his epic 158* against India was during a horribly losing effort. Does that mean that we have a better chance when he does NOT do well? Would it not have been infinitely simpler for him to mitigate some of the self importance and say that our batsmen need to click as unit, and subsequently give our bowlers the better chance to win the match?

Sure he played a critical part in our most of our memorable victories, but so did the rest of the team. AFAIK, total team effort brought us victory as we outperformed the opposition in every department. His remarkable 90 something against England didn't give us a W because the team didn't click.

Ego issues if you ask me. No doubt egged on by fans such as myself who once considered him "talismanic".

Vai...tali mali bujhi na....all ami bujhi jokhon ashrafuilla mathe naambe...maar ashrafulluia maar...." AtMR...you better patent this before me....

[AsifTheManRahman]

It's already been patented.

[Zeeshan]

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
It's already been patented.

Canada patent < toilet paper.

[Zunaid]

An interview of Mohammad Ashraful by Prathom Alo’s Utpal Shuvro. Translated by yours truly. I may publish this on the front page if I can get US’s thumbs up.

Utpal Shuvro, Prathom Alo (PA): How are you?

Mohammad Ashraful (MA): Thanks to Allah, I am fine.

PA: People seem to be having the opinion that you have not been able to take the loss of captaincy easily…

MA: Who?

PA: Almost everyone. I think the basis of this opinion is your statement that you were enjoying the captaincy and that you wanted to continue on. It is natural to then feel upset being removed from the captaincy after that.

MA: I am a cricketer above all. I have been playing for the national team for eight years, captain for the last two. I have taken the loss of captaincy quite normally. That’s because, I have played under all Bangladeshi Test captains so far. I have seen them all leave too. So I knew that the same will happen to me too.

PA: Then why did you not give up the captaincy before the Board removed you?

MA: I didn’t because if they had any criticisms to make, it should have been for my batting. They could say, they were not getting the innings from me like before and such … but as a team we were not playing badly. We won two big ODIs and drew one Test. Outside of these, we also did play well in other Test matches. Bangladesh has now played 50 Tests, winning one and drew one by playing well against the West Indies… the rest of the draws were by virtue of rain. Under Chacha (Khaled Mahmud) Bangladesh played a good Test match at Multan, under Sumon Bhai (Habibul Bashar) we played a good Test match against Australia and under me we played three good Test matches against South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. We didn’t win in the end but the games were close. That is why I believe we were on the right track.

PA: If that is what you believe then I cannot believe that you weren’t aggrieved at losing the captaincy.

MA: Believe what you will. I am not aggrieved because I have many years ahead of me. In many countries cricketers my age do not even begin their international career. Here we often send 25-26 year olds into retirement where as in most countries many players a few years older are just about to start their careers. I have said this many times – I have many years in front of me and the years I have already played are a bonus. But that doesn’t mean that I hadn’t tried to play my best. I have always worked hard. No coaching staff can criticize my effort and attitude.

PA: No one has said anything about that in the past..

MA: Look, as I said, there has never been a lack of effort on my part. Unfortunately I have not been able to show results. I will definitely be able to do that in the future. There is still plenty of time. I will be a captain again. This is one reason I did not give up the captaincy even when I wanted to. If I had quit, questions will be asked next time I am made captain. Yes, I wanted to quit – when the team loses all blame falls on my shoulders. There are ten other players in the team. They too have to play well. Sumon bhai was a good captain because others in the team played well. Almost all the wins under his captaincy were due to my performances. And I hope I will play well under Mashrafe. He will be a good captain. When I am captain again in the future, maybe then both the team and I will play well.

PA: You were made captain through the West Indies tour. It is unprecedented in Bangladesh’s cricket history that a captain has been sacked before his term ended. I guess you hadn’t thought of this?

MA: No, but I knew everything is possible in Bangladesh. I have seen since I was young that nothing is guaranteed. Otherwise who would have thought that one loss to Ireland would end it all?

PA: So the board made this decision bowing to public pressure as opposed to being based on cricketing sense?

MA: I can’t answer this. I have the code of conduct to think of.

PA: That people find fault with you when the team plays badly is not just due to you being captain. Your performance has usually always been below par. Don’t you think that is criminal?

MA: No, why would it be criminal? I would have done the same in their place. The person who scored a debut century versus Murali should always play well– I had that expectation. No, it’s not criminal but international cricket is not at all easy. It is tough.

PA: And you are saying this even after eight years in international cricket?

MA: The other day I was reading an interview of Ricky Ponting. He said that, even today, he is still learning. If he says this after 34 Test centuries, what should I say? 9 years after getting Test status, we still don’t have good facilities and infrastructure. If I say this, many will point to Mirpur [SBNS] …

PA: What’s so special about Mirpur? In other Test nations, you can find these facilities in every street corner.

MA: That’s true. We must improve our infrastructure. If the nation’s cricket improves, the national team will surely improve. We must strengthen domestic cricket. We must provide more opportunities and facilities for the Academy team.

PA: How will you remember your two years as captain?

MA: A mix of good and bid. You have to remember that I was made captain at a very young age. During my time, I was the youngest captain in Test cricket. Since I was young, I had always dreamt of being the national captain. That dream has come true. But it did not end the way I wanted it to. But, I have learned a lot and hope to make use of it in the future.

PA: What is the best part (or worst) of being captain?

MA: It is very tough to captain or to coach the Bangladesh team. We don’t have a McGrath nor a Warne; all they have to do is bowl and the deed is done. Neither do we have a Haydn nor a Gilchrist. What we have to do, we have to do together. We have only been playing Test cricket for 9 years. I am saying “only” because we have yet to find our best team. From even Bulbul Bhai’s (Aminul Islam Bulbul) era, we have been hearing that Bangladesh is a young side. We are still young. We have to be given encouragement. But while we find everyone besides on when we play well, no one is with us when we do not. When we win, many will say ‘I did this or I did that’ but when we lose, only we lose.

PA: Even the cricket board seems to be joining the public chorus of criticism these days...

MA: Yeah, that hurts. I will just say this, the board is here because of the players and that the players need the board. This is a partnership. If the team fares badly, the board too will have to assume some responsibility.

PA: Does all this that there might be an extra desire in trying to do well during the West Indies tour?

MA: No, nothing like that. I always try to do well and will do the same this time too.

PA: But aren’t thins a bit different this time? So much has been said, it would be eminently normal to have a desire to show what Ashraful is capable of.

MA: People know what Ashraful is capable of. Everyone knows, if Ashraful plays well, Bangladesh will win. Bangladesh has yet to win a big Test match, because I have yet to play well in any of them. In every close Test match that we have lost, I did not do well.

PA: Does this prove that Bangladesh will not win if Ashraful does not play well?

MA: (Laughs) I don’t know that. But after you said this, this may be why (laughs again).

PA: You are the most experienced of all the players. You are the only one to have experienced a Test in the West Indies. And you just lost your captaincy… All eyes will be on you.

MA: I don’t worry about it. There is but just one thing – I have to perform. As captain, at least I did not fear getting dropped. Now, if I do badly, they will drop me.

PA: Which Ashraful will we get to see on this West Indies tour?

MA: (laughs) Batsman Ashraful of course. I am not going down to toss in this series.