Yet another Habibul Bashar Poll: Architect of Success or Just Lucky?

[rupantor]

It is often mentioned that Habibul Bashar is the most successful captain of Bangladesh Team. He tends to earn a lot of credit and sympathy for being the "most successful captain".

I wonder whether it is even justified to apply the concept of “successful captain” to a fast developing cricket team. Our Cricket Infrastructure, Youth Cricketer Development Program, Facilities of Training, International top level exposure etc. dramatically developed over the last few years. Our recent successes can be attributed to these factors to a great extent. So, comparing the present captain to our past captains is not fair at all because the above mentioned factors.

Was Habibul Bashar a lucky man to be the captain of the team during this enormous growth period? Or did he actually play a crucial role as a captain for achieving this success?

[TheWatcher]

Bashar has done well to hold together a very young team in last few year. There are combination of factors that helped Bangladesh cricket team to develop to the point we are now, and Bashar is just one of those factors. So, I call Bashar neither a mastermind, nor a lucky guy at the helm.

[cricket_pagol]

Originally Posted by TheWatcher
Bashar has done well to hold together a very young team in last few year. There are combination of factors that helped Bangladesh cricket team to develop to the point we are now, and Bashar is just one of those factors. So, I call Bashar neither a mastermind, nor a lucky guy at the helm.

i agree. Saying that he is artitecct will be giving him too much credit... but at the same time bashar's contribution to Bangladesh cricket cannot be ignored.

[Tigers_eye]

No other option.

[Baundule]

Actually when Bashar took over the captaincy, we were at a mess: Pilot was sacked and being the best batsman by a mile Bashar had no competitor. At that time we were not in a position to win matches against quality opponents. Whatmore focused on the improvement of individual performances, which would count to the enhancement of the overall result. We were not seriously thinking of winning. And for that job, Bashar was quite fine.

But after the inclusion of some new blood: Nafees had been a consistent performer before the world cup and Sakib is a great find. Tamim is not consistent yet; but he is someone any opponent must respect. With this, add the improvement of Aftab (he was another consistent player before the world cup) and Ashraful and the return of Mashrafee and Razzak with Rafique consistently doing his job. All these factors have actually made us a strong team, I believe, much stronger than we have performed so far, and from here on we can truely go for winning no matter who the opponent is.

Unfortunately, Bashar as a captain failed completely to raise his captaincy with the improvement of the team's performance and that is all we are talking about.

I am not voting for any of those options, because IMO, neither of them is true.

[cricket_king]

It was the team's effort that won us the matches. Not bashar's.

[cricket_king]

Originally Posted by Baundule
Actually when Bashar took over the captaincy, we were at a mess: Pilot was sacked and being the best batsman by a mile Bashar had no competitor. At that time we were not in a position to win matches against quality opponents. Whatmore focused on the improvement of individual performances, which would count to the enhancement of the overall result. We were not seriously thinking of winning. And for that job, Bashar was quite fine.

But after the inclusion of some new blood: Nafees had been a consistent performer before the world cup and Sakib is a great find. Tamim is not consistent yet; but he is someone any opponent must respect. With this, add the improvement of Aftab (he was another consistent player before the world cup) and Ashraful and the return of Mashrafee and Razzak with Rafique consistently doing his job. All these factors have actually made us a strong team, I believe, much stronger than we have performed so far, and from here on we can truely go for winning no matter who the opponent is.

Unfortunately, Bashar as a captain failed completely to raise his captaincy with the improvement of the team's performance and that is all we are talking about.

I am not voting for any of those options, because IMO, neither of them is true.

Bashar took over long after pilot stepped down. He took over khaled mahmud's job.

[Niceman70]

he does the basics of the captaincy but when it comes to snatch the game or gamble a bit to win..he fails. We need a captain who is aggressive and good controller of the game. Basically, we need to see leadership on the field.

[Baundule]

Originally Posted by cricket_king
Bashar took over long after pilot stepped down. He took over khaled mahmud's job.

U r right. After Chacha(captained 15 ODIs in 7 months), the other option would be Pilot (dont know why no one even talk about Rafique). But because of the 2003 WC incidents, at that time Pilot was no longer a candidate. Bashar was the only option and even these days, it's hard to find another one.

[Rifat]

the reason behind bangladesh's success...

the famous wins over australlia and india gave us huge boosts

coach dav whatmore's influence(which showed right after the wc2003 (losing to canada and kenya in the test against pakistan... we almost won that one.

the rise of new key young players and recovered injury of Mortaza(until now unfortunately)...

based on these evidence, Bashar was just a figurehead, but however, there were key moments when he was a very good captain. so overall, he is not the best captain we have had, but he is the most humble one, and he is not really a bad captain, but a basic captain, who just understands the game and follows it. we should also consider the key relationship he has with whatmore which allowed room for more understanding and growth. this encouraged the whole Bangladesh team and put us high in morale.

Bashar has a very good personality, that is why he can answer very dificult questions raised by the media very well, he is not arrogant, so in this perspective he is a good captain.

let's just be happy that he didn't do worse, in fact in lots of circumstances, he did good, put aside his batting... but could he have done better, yes!

[James90]

Bashar was the catalyst that got the ball rolling. I'm not sure how much influence he's had on the team in the past year however.