Omar Qureishi a true friend of Bangladesh Cricket

Zobair · #1 March 16, 2005, 06:23 PM

It is generally not known what a good friend Omar Kureishi was of Bangladesh Cricket.
I remember when I was the Presi-dent of BCB in the early 80s I had made a statement in December 1985 reported in the Khaleej Times that none of the sub-continental countries were helping Bangladesh cricket.

Soon after the publication of this statement a suave gentleman arrived in my house one evening without appointment and introduced himself as Omar Kureishi. He challenged me about my statement in the press. I not only confirmed the statement but also gave him a piece of my mind. He took it all gracefully and asked me if he could make a call to London. I was not amused as I did not want my telephone bill to clock up with other people's personal calls. Omar then said he wanted to call Imran Khan which got me interested. Luckily Omar got Imran on the first dial and from the tone of his conversation I gathered the close relationship he had with Imran.

Omar asked Imran if he could bring the Pakistan Test Team to Bangladesh. The request coming from Omar it seemed to me was taken by Imran as an order. Within a month the Omar Kureishi's XI was in Dhaka. The team led by Imran was practically the Pakistani Test Team and included stars like Wasim Akram, Rameez Raja, Salim Malik, Abdul Qadir and Sarfraz Nawaz. The Dhaka stadium was packed and to the best of my knowledge that was the only occasion when Imran was seen playing in Bangladesh. For the week's duration that the Pakistan team was in Dhaka the players spent practically every evening at my house and thus began my close association with Omar. After that Omar visited Bangladesh several times.

My good friend Jamil Ansari employed Omar in Karachi as a Public Relations Director, a post he continued to hold till his indisposition. Every time I visited Karachi I would spend hours sitting with Omar in his office.

Another moment that comes to my mind was during the first SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in 1986. Although Bangladesh did not have either the Test or ODI status I wanted to arrange a tour to Pakistan for the Bangladesh Team. Many visits to the PCB office in Karachi failed to convince them to invite Bangladesh. During the SAARC Summit I was invited to the reception at the Pakistan Embassy where Pakistan's then President Ziaul Huq and Lt. Gen. Mujibur Rahman, the Pakistan Sports Minister were present. Omar was also there. He asked me to broach the subject with the Pakistan Sports Minister. I went up to him with Omar and tried to bring up the subject of the tour. Gen. Mujib being from the army had many of his former colleagues in the Bangladesh Army. Before I could finish a sentence we would be interrupted by army officers saying hello to the General. This carried on for practically half an hour. Omar kept on telling me not to move before I had finished making the request.

Finally, I got my chance and Gen Mujib immediately agreed to host a Bangladesh team. He went across to President Ziaul Huq and informed him about our cricket team. The President also gave his green signal. Thus followed the first visit by a Bangladesh cricket team to Pakistan. The Team was given full status and hospitality accorded to Test Teams. Incidentally, the host was not the PCB but the Sports Ministry of Pakistan.

Omar was indeed a very good friend and a well wisher of the Bangladesh cricket and quite often mentioned it in his regular syndicated columns.

The writer is a former president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

Daily Star

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A friend in need is a friend indeed! Omar Qureishi helped our cricket, of his own volition, at a time when no one really cared all that much about us. We are grateful to him for caring and doing so much for our cricket.

May his soul rest in peace.

couger · #2 March 16, 2005, 06:36 PM

To Omar Qureishi---Rest in peace. May god keep you in the palm of his hand.

RazabQ · #3 March 16, 2005, 06:49 PM

ah! drats. Just beat me to posting this. Ineed, now I understand why it was called the Umar Quareshi event. Another interesting note - and this has ramifications for the Forget Cricket forum, was the revelation of camradarie between BD army and Pak army officers. Dunno what to make of it considering the context of 71.

fwullah · #4 March 16, 2005, 11:15 PM

Its a small piece of Bangladesh's cricket history.

I think we should keep the link of this article somewhere saved in a new section called 'Bangladesh's cricket history' or something.

mwrkhan · #5 March 17, 2005, 12:29 AM

Saw the Omar Qureishi XI play BD in the unofficial "test" match, don't quite remember if it was a three day or five day affair, in any case BD were all out for 48 or something!!. I remember Raqib (who opened the batting) and Shantu calling for extra foam to be put inside their batting pads when they were facing the quicker bowlers!!

Kana-Baba · #6 March 17, 2005, 01:19 AM

interesting thing is that the article was written by K.Z. Islam Do you guys recognize him?

mwrkhan · #7 March 17, 2005, 01:21 AM

I know the fellow. Used to sponsor Nirman Shools cricket right?

RazabQ · #8 March 17, 2005, 01:40 AM

Regading the matches, I recall reading an interview of Imran Khan at that time and he mentioned how he tried a few overs of bowling with the full run up and after realizing the batsmen were backing away and getting out, resorted to bowling off an abbreviated one. Man our cricket has come a long ways

ZunaidH · #9 March 17, 2005, 03:44 AM

I was there. It wasn't Imran who scared the daylights out of our batsmen. It was Wasim Akram and his vicious outswingers. Raquibul stayed in to score 2 over a period of 90 minutes.

Pathetic display by our batsmen, but the trip to hotel Sonargaon and the stadium was worth it for the number of pretty young ladies flocking the shores. Grand event indeed.

ibnul · #10 March 17, 2005, 06:07 AM

Many Small events happen to make the Big one. I can remember the hype of the Omar Qauershi event and how we had a chance to play them. Think about UAE, do full Bangladesh team ever visit them? Thats how hard it is. KZ Islam is a great man and helped our cricket in a big way, He has spend his own money to arrange the Nirman school cricket and todays many cricketers remember their first outing. I can remember playing in the league from Motijheel school against Residential, and it was a memorable experience indeed. Philanthropist like him in short supply in Bangladesh thus we all look to govt to make something happen, I have a dream of running a school cricket league one day in Bangladesh, and yes I am inspiered by KZIslam.

akabir77 · #11 March 17, 2005, 08:16 AM

I remember following the game from rangamati... Anyway badshah got the wkt of imran khan. i think he scored 13 (around) and we were so glad as if we won the game... that was for the first time imran got out by a bangaldeshi bowler.... hurreyyyyyyy

Edited on, March 17, 2005, 1:18 PM GMT, by akabir77.

Optimist · #12 March 17, 2005, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mwrkhan
Saw the Omar Qureishi XI play BD in the unofficial "test" match, don't quite remember if it was a three day or five day affair, in any case BD were all out for 48 or something!!. I remember Raqib (who opened the batting) and Shantu calling for extra foam to be put inside their batting pads when they were facing the quicker bowlers!!

I think in the first innings Bangladesh did not do that bad! I remember Rafiqul Alam hitting Abdul Kadir for two consecutive boundaries before being out in the same over. In the second innings Bangladesh only needed to bat out 25 or 26 overs against Wasim, Imran, Mohsin Kamal, Abdul Kadir ( and probably Zakir Khan) to draw the match. Wasim sent Shantu's stumps cartwheeling in the very first ball. Then Mohsin Kamal probably finished us off with a 6 wicket haul! No doubt Bangladesh has come a long way since those days!

Edited on, March 17, 2005, 5:43 PM GMT, by Optimist.

cracky · #13 March 17, 2005, 10:36 AM

A nice person. May Allah rest his soul in peace.

Edited on, March 17, 2005, 3:36 PM GMT, by cracky.

*AsifTheManRahman* · #14 March 17, 2005, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Optimist
Then Mohsin Kamal probably finished us off with a 6 wicket haul!
Edited on, March 17, 2005, 1:59 PM GMT, by Optimist.

almost fell off my chair reading this...man! mohsin kamal??!!! we've not only improved - our players have developed super human qualities!

anyways, may Qureshi's soul rest in peace.

Edited on, March 17, 2005, 3:51 PM GMT, by AsifTheManRahman.
Reason: inherited doesn't sound right considering the chickenlike attributes of our former cricketers. "developed" would be more appropriate

Optimist · #15 March 17, 2005, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AsifTheManRahman
almost fell off my chair reading this...man! mohsin kamal??!!! we've not only improved - our players have developed super human qualities!

Edited on, March 17, 2005, 3:51 PM GMT, by AsifTheManRahman.
Reason: inherited doesn't sound right considering the chickenlike attributes of our former cricketers. "developed" would be more appropriate

AsifTheMan please check the following scorecard. And no body will have any doubt about the level of cricketers during those days!

Bangladesh-Netherland 1985

Mohsin kamal was a far better bowler when compared to these dutch bowlers! And a bowling attack consisting of Wasim, Imran, Mohsin and Kadir was probably one the best possible at that time.

Edited on, March 17, 2005, 5:47 PM GMT, by Optimist.