Raqibul's World Cup dream squad

[TheWatcher]

From bdnews24.com-

What will the coming World Cup squad look like? Who should be on the team to be announced on February 13? This sports discussion series is concerned with finding answers to these questions. Bangladesh's ex-captains talk about their dream teams with bdnews24.com.

Masud Parvez, bdnews24.com sports reporter, meets the former chiefs of the Bangladesh squad to bring you their views on what the next team should look like. We start the series with Raqibul Hassan's ideal line-up.


Raqibul's World Cup Dream Squad

How can one not expect to discuss the announcement of the Bangladesh World Cup squad when previous line-ups have always generated a slew of controversy?

The 1999 World Cup squad did not have the then best batsman Minhajul Abedin Nannu on board even though he had played brilliantly in practice matches. Selectors were later forced to pick him up because of strong public demand, and Bangladesh eventually benefited from the inclusion of the veteran batsman.

Later, ahead of the 2003 World Cup, the trouble started when the 30-member preliminary squad favoured novices over veterans like Akram Khan, Aminul Islam Bulbul and Naimur Rahman Durjoy.

Bangladesh went on to be thumped in five matches out of six.

Rakibul Hasan, officially Bangladesh's first captain, believes the mistake won't be repeated this time.

Rakibul believes that young-blood should dominate Bangladesh's World Cup squad but feels that the youngsters likely to be selected this time are qualitatively different from the 2003 World Cup team.

"Those who played in the last World Cup were almost not experienced at all in the international arena, but the youngsters, going to get the opportunity in the coming one, are more experienced and accustomed to international matches," Rakibul told bdnews24.com Wednesday.

The former Bangladesh captain would give priority to youngsters on his ideal roster and pick a team with just two changes to the 15-member squad now in Zimbabwe playing the four-match ODI series.

But it would have been nice if we had more senior players, he said.

Rakibul, now playing the role of match commissioner in the ongoing premier cricket league, favoured wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud in place of Mushfiqur Rahim.

Instead of Tapash Kumar Baishya, his surprise inclusion would be uncapped paceman Dollar Mahmud.

"Dollar is a very good and genuine all-rounder, his batting is good enough to play him at number four, and not at a lower order," Rakibul said, praising the promising pacer, who plays for title-holders Old DOHS.

Rakibul said that he'd put Dollar in the Eleven.

As Bangladesh plays against India, Sri Lanka and Bermuda in the World Cup group matches, Rakibul wants to give room to Dollar in the playing eleven, dropping one specialist spinner.

"The wickets in the West Indies are almost the same as those in our sub-continent and I want to field one specialist spinner, the experienced Mohammad Rafique, along with Saqib Al Hasan as we have to face India and Sri Lanka who generally play spinners very well," Rakibul said.

"I want to give room to Dollar Mahmud in the place of spinner Abdur Razzak to strengthen the pace attack along with Mashrafee Bin Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain."

The veteran said, "The inclusion of Dollar would not only strengthen the pace attack, but also increase the batting depth. Paceman Mohammad Sharif might also be considered for the role, but I would prefer Dollar Mahmud."

Rakibul also wants Tamim Iqbal to open the innings along with Shahriar Nafees since Aftab, Saqib, Bashar and Ashraful are the automatic choices at three, four, five and six positions.

"We are yet to get what we want from opener Mehrab Hossain Jr in one-dayers, and I think Tamim can fulfil the need with his aggressive batting display," said the former opener.

"Yes, Tamim is yet to play an international match and it is not at all a problem. Aside from domestic cricket, he has hammered a century in India for the Bangladesh A team, a century against Scotland in a practice match at home and had an excellent time in the Under-19 squad," explained Rakibul.

"Tamim's international exposure has removed his pre-match jitters and made him a confident player," he said.

The former national cricketer has selected 15 cricketers for the World Cup. They are Shahriar Nafees, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Saqib Al Hasan, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud, Mashrafee Bin Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Mohammad Sharif and Dollar Mahmud.

His playing eleven would consist of Shahriar Nafees, Tamim Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Saqib Al Hasan, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Khaled Mashud, Abdur Razzak/Dollar Mahmud, Mashrafee Bin Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain and Mohammad Rafique in the side.

[Tigers_eye]

"The 1999 World Cup squad did not have the then best batsman Minhajul Abedin Nannu on board even though he had played brilliantly in practice matches. Selectors were later forced to pick him up because of strong public demand, and Bangladesh eventually benefited from the inclusion of the veteran batsman.

Later, ahead of the 2003 World Cup, the trouble started when the 30-member preliminary squad favoured novices over veterans like Akram Khan, Aminul Islam Bulbul and Naimur Rahman Durjoy."

And he is doing the same mistake on Tamim, Dollar. Saying Dollar is 2nd down batsman finishes any of his arguement. For crying out loud they should be properly groomed for 2011 and beyond. not that long ago didn't we see Tamim totally flopping when it mattered the most??? U-19 WC matches.

As for me, these West Indies pitches are no longer the ones that Andy Roberts, Garner, Holding, Mashall played on. having spinners would be helpful. You go in with your strength, not with unproven untested strategy. No way having 4 pacemen none over 85 mph helps the cause. This equals to more wide and noballs which means more balls to hit.

I thought he was making a case for Mehrab Sr. and Opi while mentioning experience and past WCs.

Another mistake he has made by not including Mushfiq. Who has the experience of playing overseas and is a key ingredient if we want to upset a giant or two.

At the end of the day, it is his opinion which can be different than others but point still remains that he is one of the well respected ex-captain and his opinion can sway lot of people from the reality.

[Miraz]

I will go with Raqibul's squad with only two changes. Syed Rasel in place of Dollar Mahmud and Mushfiqur Rahim in place of Khaled Mashud.

[TheWatcher]

Ok it is time to criticize, fact check-

"Yes, Tamim is yet to play an international match and it is not at all a problem. Aside from domestic cricket, he has hammered a century in India for the Bangladesh A team, a century against Scotland in a practice match at home and had an excellent time in the Under-19 squad," explained Rakibul.

Tamim never played for Bangladesh-A team. The last time a Bangladeshi team (other than U/19 team) visited India was BCB XI taking part in Duleep Trophy, Tamim was, for sure, not part of it. Also, Tamim sucked big time in U/19 WC in Sri Lanka.

[Fazal]

Surprise ... surprise ......I thought he likes oldies in general but there are few surprise in his selection.....


1. He prefered Dollar instead of Taposh.
2. He prefered Dollar/Sharif and Rafiq instead of Razzak in the final 11
3. Even though both are new, he prefered the newer one Tamim over his mahrab who play more like he used to play.

His prefernce of Pilot over Rahim doesn't surprise me at all. Good that he is not the selector.

[Miraz]

Tamim scored two centuries for U-19 team. One at Fatullah against England U19 and the other one at Colombo against USA U19.

TheWatcher is right, he never played for Bangladesh A not even in BCCB XI. I guess Rakibul mistook the century against USA U19 at Comobo as the century in India.

[Orpheus]

This guys is an idiot, no wonder he is a commentator for Channel I. Why would anybody pick DOllar??? SHala fokir!!! Also replace Razzak?? HAHA!! If it comes to Rafiq and razzaq, I take razzaq for ODI.

Pilot vs Mushfiq, I don't know about that! They both suck at batting. hence pilot would be a better choice as he is a better wk

[Tigers_eye]

If he likes the young and new why didn't he mention anything about Nazmus Sadat?? He performed better than Tamim in all form of games. Sadat did play for BD-A also and shined better than Mehrab Jr. in ODIs as an opener.

[sadi]

Some of his thoughts are really scary. I never heard Dollar was that good of a batsman. Never really scored big in any form of cricket. Also, he dropped Razzak in favor of Rafique. I would always play Razzak no matter what.

[AsifTheManRahman]

Originally Posted by Orpheus
This guys is an idiot, no wonder he is a commentator for Channel I. Why would anybody pick DOllar??? SHala fokir!!! Also replace Razzak?? HAHA!! If it comes to Rafiq and razzaq, I take razzaq for ODI.

Pilot vs Mushfiq, I don't know about that! They both suck at batting. hence pilot would be a better choice as he is a better wk

i agree.

about the being a channel i commentator part, i was going through some old videos the other day, and the guy just couldn't get Shahadat's name right. doesn't he know that Shahjada is a totally different person? lol...and we blame takla hamid for mispronouncing people's names.

so can we be sure that when he mentioned tamim, he wasn't referring to taposh for the opening spot? :p

[arafath79]

Originally Posted by Orpheus
This guys is an idiot, no wonder he is a commentator for Channel I. Why would anybody pick DOllar??? SHala fokir!!! Also replace Razzak?? HAHA!! If it comes to Rafiq and razzaq, I take razzaq for ODI.

Pilot vs Mushfiq, I don't know about that! They both suck at batting. hence pilot would be a better choice as he is a better wk

hehehehe....I almost agree with u. Dollar Mahmud is not a better choice instead of Razzaq or Tapash. If we have got Tapash and Sharif then there is no place for Dollar. I don't think he is a genuine allrounder !! How many 50s he has got in domestic leagues ??? But Raqibul is not really Fakir. He is ok .

[kalpurush]

Originally Posted by sadi
Some of his thoughts are really scary. I never heard Dollar was that good of a batsman. Never really scored big in any form of cricket. Also, he dropped Razzak in favor of Rafique. I would always play Razzak no matter what.

"Swajonpriti" sabdota ekhaney bahulloh money hochey!
Raqib miya Dollar er mamu naki khuj neya dorker!!

[Tigers_eye]

Originally Posted by arafath79
... But Raqibul is not really Fakir. He is ok .

Not literary!! Fakir in sense of cricketing knowledge (evaluating talent) even after having such a rich background.

[sadi]

dollar er shosur mone hoy!!!

[pagol-chagol]

Dollar Mahmud for captain, and also wicket keeper after he finishes his spell after the 19th over. If Tamim doesn't work, send Dollar as the opening batsman as well. If he can play 4th, he can adjust to 1.

[billah]

Having 4 pacers will help. Specially, if they can swing the ball. Heck, even the WI team is packed with 4-5 pacers. There is no reason to believe that spin bowling will be effective here. Specially, India and Sri Lanka play spin extremely well.

Raqibul is creating a team of a mixture of experience and youth. He is on the right track. Because all the other WC teams are doing just the same. We will see a bunch of new faced helping Fleming for the kiwis. We will also see Srisanth alongside Tendulkar, Jaysuria with Upul, Joyce with Vaughan and so on.

I will pick Rasel instead of Dollar. The rest, I think is pretty good. We'll find out in a week guys.

[BangladeshCricket]

Should be World Cup pathetic squad...instead dream squad.
Our batters forgot how to bat and score more than 35 runs.
our bowlers forgot how to take wickets and giving away minimum 40 runs in their 10 over quota.

[sunniath]

our bowling attack may become too friendly for india and sri lanka.both teams have great batsmen who love playing spinners. three of our five bowlers are left arm spinners.sl has tons of quality left handed batsmen who can destroy our spin attack.in this case,sharif can be a viable alternative for one of the spinners.saqib cant be dropped because of this batting.rafiq is a better batsman and razzaq is in better bowling form.so will it be better to pick a third pacer or should we stick with our three left arm spin attack?what do you think?

[Pundit]

Not sure what sin Rassel had committed? He is a better choice than the recently untested Taposh/Sharif. Going back to Taposh especially, may or may not be the better choice, but it also means that we are taking one step back.

Rajin may be ok to open with Nafees, but I am not fully sure. But Tamim (who is he..has he played a ODI ever??)...why should a player from a weak team like BD ever debut in the world cup. Remember that punk in '03 against SA...who ran down the turf to try and whack Pollock. Plain stupid. Nerve get the better of new players.

About the WC, its unfortunate that we are having issues with Mashud again during the wc, albeit in a very different way.

I will make my final call on how BD will do after the NZ practice game. I don't give a rat's rear how we do against Zims, Scotland or Kenya. Gaining confidence by playing weaker teams and saying that it helps against the likes of India or SL, is an illusion.

[Dhakablues]

So how many of you are on the field every day as a match commissioner? How many of you are following the league actually being there instead of just reading articles created by tea-sipping buddies at press clubs?
Raqibul is one of the legends of Bangladesh cricket. Dont under estimate his cricket knowledge without understanding where he is coming from. You might disagree with his conclusions but you just cant buff it as non-sense. Dollar was also one of the cricketer that Richard Mccinnes mentioned to watch out for. His body language, rythm, throw all makes him a good candidate for the squad. Only if you have seen him in action. Moreover, I think we all will have our says in the WC squad. Its our prerogative. At the end, it will be the selectors not Raqibul who will make the call. And trust me,,,, the selectors do pay attention to Raqibul more so than you think.

[cricketboy]

Originally Posted by Orpheus
This guys is an idiot, no wonder he is a commentator for Channel I. Why would anybody pick DOllar??? SHala fokir!!! Also replace Razzak?? HAHA!! If it comes to Rafiq and razzaq, I take razzaq for ODI.

Pilot vs Mushfiq, I don't know about that! They both suck at batting. hence pilot would be a better choice as he is a better wk

I totally agree with you.

[Imteaz]

No Comments about The Team. Only One Thing

"I Respect Raqibul Hasan as He is the First Official Captain of Baangladesh Cricket Team. He is also a Legend Considering Bangladeshi Cricket History. But His Team Doesn't Show His Cricket Acquaintance."

Have a Nice Time.

[Beamer]

Only if we had a wkt keeper that opened the batting or batted real high up the order, lots of questions regarding our batting-bowling combination would have been answered. Wishful thinking..

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Beamer
Only if we had a wkt keeper that opened the batting or batted real high up the order, lots of questions regarding our batting-bowling combination would have been answered. Wishful thinking..

Undoubtably, a wicket-keeper batsman who cna open is the biggest problem we have right now. So can't agree more with what you said. However, words are around that Tushar Imran does have some wicket-keeping skills. If that is the case, can't he be tried out for a couple of times? Afterall, our ODI squad is THE place for testing talents?

[cricket_king]

Is this guy for real? He doesn't seem to have anything close to a decent cricket mind. He's making biased choices. I mean how the hell does dollar, an opening bowler, become considered as a top-order batsman? I dont think he'd make it into the team with his bowling capabilities let alone his batting!