Where it all started for Bangladesh Cricket: A walk down a personal memory lane …

[bujhee kom]

Shehwar bhai it is truly a beautiful beautiful writing you have here.! I read it again for the second time, I started and I couldn't stop, it felt new and exciting again....very nicely written dear bhai! You are a very good writer!

[F6_Turbo]

Originally Posted by mufi_02
If we ever win the world cup, we can have similar celebrations. But I am afraid we will be either dead or too old.

I don't think the world would be able to handle the consequences of a Bangladeshi World Cup win.

Time as we know it would end....

[AbuDarda]

What a epic story! what a writing! what a memory and emotion! i am totally speechless after reading this,entire earliar history of bangladesh cricket! আমিও আমার ক্রিকেট স্মৃতি লিখতে চেয়েছিলাম,কিন্তু আপনার এই মহাকাব্য পড়ে লিখার সাহস হারিয়ে ফেলেছি! যাক তারপরও একটু চেষ্টা করিঃ আমি অনেক জুনিয়র,আপনার কাহিনী যেখানে শেষ হয়েছে আমারটা সেখান থেকে শুরু। ৯৬ এর উত্‍সবের কথা অল্প মনে আছে,তবে ক্রিকেট বুঝার মত বয়স তখনো হয়নি,৯৯এর বিশ্বকাপের খেলার কথা ভালই মনে আছে তবে খেলা দেখা শুরু করিনি তখনো। আমার খেলা দেখা শুরু ২০০৩ বিশ্বকাপ থেকে,প্রথম দেখেছিলাম সাউথ আফ্রিকা আর নিউজিল্যান্ডের ম্যাচ,গিবসের ১৪৪এ ৩০৬ করেও সাউথ আফ্রিকা হেরেছিল। আর বাংলাদেশ পুরোটা বিশ্বকাপে চরম হতাশায় ডুবিয়েছিল! বাংলাদেশের ধারাবাহিক বাজে খেলা আর প্রতিটা ম্যাচে পরাজয় দিয়ে আমার ক্রিকেট জীবন শুরু হয়। সেসময় আমাদের ব্যাটসম্যানদের প্রতিটা রান আমার কাছে কতটা যে মূল্যবান ছিল ভাষায় প্রকাশ করা সম্ভব নয়। কেউ ফিফটি মারলেই আনন্দে আত্নহারা হয়ে যেতাম,কত যে স্বপ্ন দেখতাম! জিম্বাবুয়ের বিপক্ষে ২০০৪ এ প্রথম জয়ে কত যে আনন্দ পেয়েছিলাম! এরপর ইন্ডিয়াকে একটা ম্যাচে আফতাবের হাফ সেন্চুরিতে হারানোর পর আসে অষ্ট্রেলিয়ার বিপক্ষে সেই মহাকাব্যিক জয়! আশরাফুলের সেন্চুরি কত যে মহামূল্যবান মনে হত! ২০০৭এর বিশ্বকাপ হল আমার দেখা আর অনুভবের সেরা বিশ্বকাপ,ইন্ডিয়াক� �� বলে কয়ে হারানোটা সারা জীবন ভুলতে পারবো না! এরপরও দুইটা বছর প্রচন্ড উত্তেজনা আর আবেগ নিয়ে ক্রিকেট দেখেছি,আইপিএলের উথান আর অষ্ট্রেলিয়ার হারিয়ে যাওয়ার পর থেকে ক্রিকেট নিয়ে অতটা উত্তেজনা আর কাজ করে না। এখনো খেলা দেখি,এমনকি মাঠেও যাই কিন্তু সেই আবেগটা আর নেই,সেই চরম আবেগীয় অনুভুতিটাকে আমি খুব খুব মিস করি! ইস সেই জীবনটাতে যদি আবার ফিরে যেতে পারতাম!!

[Shehwar]

Thank you so much all! Truly touched by all your responses. I'm glad I could connect with quite a few who went through the same emotions as I did. Also feels good to know that some of the younger fans came to know about this historical era for the first time.

Posted via BC Mobile Edition (iPhone)

[fwullah]

Originally Posted by Tigers_eye
Reread the whole thing. Wonderful and even better second time around. Sharing mine would be a drag cause most of the time it would not have Bangladesh in it. (They weren't good enough in the 70s and 80s; who wants to know that we lost to MCC and Papua New Guinea - and Football ruled supreme.)

When did Pilot hit the six? Didn't find it there. I was revisiting BD during '96 crazy time. You were the people who threw "rong"? Or was it "asdfjkl"? Need to be punished for those crimes with roshgolla and chomchom. I remember there were no white cars in Dhaka the next day. All pink, and other colors. Only the ones didn't go out in the streets were spared.

The victory over Kenya was over the top. I remember of lisening through the car radio.

naaah, our car was not spared, but i saw people throwing colors on the scotland beating day, as i was on my way to appear in pre test at college.

Right after the world cup, there was this inner urge in me, like a curing to read about the bangladesh cricket, and there was only two - cricinfo and this one.

Posted via BC Mobile Edition (Opera Mobile)

[Zunaid]

Now published as a BanglaCricket article.

[Zunaid]

Where it all started for Bangladesh Cricket: A walk down a personal memory lane …
Syed Shehwar Hossain

In personal sketches, Syed Shehwar Hossain takes us back to 1992 when he was just eight year glued to BTV and cataloging newspaper clippings. It's the story of a boy who never stopped dreaming to see his team overcome trials to reach the triumph of World Cup qualification.

Read article »

[BANFAN]

Unique experience. .... I remember every moment of that match.....was lucky to listen to it on radio, along with a group of friends and relatives.... Thanks for reminding those fond memories.

[Shehwar]

Thank you Banglacricket admins and thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your kind comments and thoughts. It really means a lot to me.

[akabir77]

awesome writing. Couple of thing I would like to add here. I heard this directly from player/management so don't ask me for sources. if you don't believe me that's fine.

1. Kenya tournament: mahindar dropped the best spinner from the final. (he was seen spending a lot of time in kenya tent as their coach was patil... also from india). We all know kenya had problem playing spinners and all the spinner did well in that match. but we didn't play the one that took the most wicket before that match.
2. He never came back to bd from the tournament. went straight to india and send the team report from there...
3. Ather refused to open the final after kenya making so many runs saying if he makes zero the ppl will kill him. it was bulbul's decision to go up and open the batting and he almost won the match. (i was very sad hearing this as Ather was my fav player).
4. We won against the UAE team cause after that KENAY tournament ICC made some rule changes as BD and some other ASSO protested. the new rule was that a country can take players only after some one was made citizen for that country at least for 5 years. during Kenya tournament UAE just got some players from india, pak and sl directly made/gave them citizen ship and put them in the tournament. after the rule change they were not strong team at all.
5. In the final Kenya vs BD for some reason Kenyan captain never closed his fielder as 1 needed out of 1. and later he was found taking money and was banned for other games. I always wondered why didn't a experience captain like him didn't ask his players to come close as 1 was needed...

[Shehwar]

Some of them are true for a fact. Some are quite controversial. Not too sure about Odumbe wanting to lose that final though! I think he just had a blank moment in not closing in those fielders or thought perhaps the batsman will go for a big hit. He took a gamble which didn't pay off imo.

[AsifTheManRahman]

In Maurice's defense though, the ball did go pretty much straight to the fielder and there was a chance of a run-out, however slight.

PS: Mohinder didn't feature in the ICC trophy finals - it was rather a do or die game for us, winning which would have ensured that we progress in the tournament, but it wasn't the finals.

[Shehwar]

Originally Posted by akabir77
...
3. Ather refused to open the final after kenya making so many runs saying if he makes zero the ppl will kill him. it was bulbul's decision to go up and open the batting and he almost won the match. (i was very sad hearing this as Ather was my fav player).
...

That's fascinating! It did turn out to be a blessing in disguise but I find it hard to believe that Athar would simply refuse to open!I thought they were struggling to find a steady opening pair through out the tourney. Only Jahangir was making runs so it made sense to shuffle. Would you please share the name of the player who told u this? Its only because I'm really curious!

[AsifTheManRahman]

Jahangir made runs in that game too, along with Bulbul. I thought 290+ was way too much for our fragile batting, but they did get mighty close.

[roman]

^We lost by 7-15 runs if I remember correctly. That was such a heart breaker. We did take our revenge though when Kenya paid us a visit later that year. They lost to our U-19, A team by significant margin. But the damage was already done.

[Shehwar]

The new BC members are welcome to read my piece until the final starts in 40 minutes! Hopefully it will kill some time. I know the wait is agonizing! I feel so alive today! Took time off work and all set to go!

[Shehwar]

Bumped ahead of the World Cup! I'm hoping the new fans would appreciate knowing what it was like for us. The article is on the first page.

[naim519]

great stuff man.
want to share my stuff as growing up with cricket in our backyard but there's no point... not even sure how we're going to perform against Afg.