Its only a game

[ZunaidH]

Relax folks - it is only a game and no national pride is at stake. For what I know, Bangladesh is the fastest growing cricket team in the world. In 10 years of test playing, no cricket team that got through the associates program (i.e. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe) had so much expectation and delivering at the same time. Here are some thoughts to ponder:

--In the 70s and 80s we used to compete with the likes of Papua NG, Bermuda, Kenya etc. I will re-iterate an anecdote. In 1988 as a teenager, I had the privilege of watching the full blown Pakistan team play in Dhaka. They pretty much shredded our bowling line up and Wasim Akram single-handedly up-rooted the batting line-up. The one question came to mind was - can we ever compete with teams like this in the international level. Couple of decades later, we are here and competing. Lets not forget Multan (we came close) and Northampton in 1999.


--Every cricket playing country that has ever had close competition with us has been shut-out comprehensively. They are miles behind us...in the 90s we used to compete with pre-Test-playing Zimbabwe and they are miles behind us today. And Zimbabwe enjoyed playing in the county circuit - at least their white players - for a good decade prior to getting to where they were in the 90s. My words of caution to any cricket nation ridiculing Bangladesh is, "watch out, you are next". Learn from history - if you are messing with Bangladesh, you will soon find yourself behind them.

--Countries like Ireland and Netherlan have all the blessing of being in Eurpoe and getting help from boards such as ECB. Yet, we all know they will never have the courage to even ask for test status. Because without ECB they are nobodies - really.


--We (i.e. BCB) have taken two very racist boards such as PCB and BCCI in the forms of mentors in the past 2 decades. We bring our own political baggage into the mix. What would have been a faster progress had these boards allowed more support in the form of teams from Bangladesh playing in their local leagues (5 days, 1 day games), we would have progressed further. Yet, these two boards are always interested in keeping Bangladesh as a "minnow" team that can be leveraged when they need the voting majority but never the voice when it comes to decesion making and priveleges, because in the back of their minds they know if Bangladesh consistently field a stronger team they will dominate and dictate priveleges.

-- Lastly, lets show some respect for people like Tamim, Shakib et. all. More for their parents. How many middle-class families in Bangladesh do I know would allow their sons to play professional cricket? For me the answer is "none"? Any parents or any young man that nurtures a dream of representing their countries and pursue professsional sport such as cricket in a country such as Bangladesh are only doing it for one reason: for the love of the game. Let's not forget the risks they have taken to get here. Not getting into the national team means a career not worth much financially. Let's face it, the Dhaka league is not the fountain of riches.

Under such terrible cirucmstances if we can get talents such as Shakib and Tamim beating the world's best consistently we should celebrate and wait huugrily for the next opportunity to knock. Because with a hungry team like Bangladesh success is right around the corner.

So those who are having difficulty understanding the value of chill-pill, relax, take a deep breath and start believing. Because the next generation of the players are counting on that. We need all the support we can. Cheers.