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December 25, 2006, 07:51 AM
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Rabeed Imam wraps up 2006
Didn't like Ash being called the fading star!
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/bang...ry/273733.html
2006 review - Bangladesh
Still mixing with the minnows
Rabeed Imam
December 25, 2006
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A few troughs but crests mostly: 'To call Mortaza's year eventful will be an understatement' © Getty Images
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Fatullah on a grey April morning. The invincible Australia are seven down and need 24 to win with the skipper fighting a lone battle against the 'might' of the Bangladeshi bowling. Shahadat Hossain, breathing fire, tests the world's best player of short balls with a skiddy bouncer. Ricky Ponting, in his 90s, mis-times and the ball flies to deep fine leg where Mashrafe Bin Mortaza starts a shade late and is unable to grasp the ball despite a desperate dive.
Three months later, and Bangladesh are in Zimbabwe. Mortaza starts the final over of the 3rd ODI. With 17 required, victory for the Tigers seems a formality. Then the last over yields 18 runs, the last ball being swatted by Brendon Taylor for a six. Mortaza hides his face with a sweater but can't hide the fact that he has lost a game for his country.
Compare those images with the one taken on the last match-day of the year. It's Mortaza again struggling to hold a couple of trophies, a cheque for being the man of the match and a plaque that says, 'The world's top wicket-taker in ODIs in 2006'. To call Mortaza's year eventful will be an understatement. He missed just one of Bangladesh's 28 limited overs games and passed a rare injury-free season, rare because not a year has gone by since his debut in 2002 that he hasn't had a prolonged injury-enforced lay-off.
This has also been the year in which he got married, starred in commercials, did justice to his allrounder tag by winning games with the bat and sat comfortably atop the wicket-taker's list in international cricket with 49 victims. His side won 18 ODIs, including a continuing streak of eight in a row; and, if you consider the winning percentage, Bangladesh are third in the world just behind Australia and New Zealand.
That success wasn't based on Mortaza's exploits alone. Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak came third in the wickets' list with 45 and the veteran Mohammad Rafique was the third Bangladeshi in the top ten with 34. Shahriar Nafees Ahmed, the left-handed opening batsman, became the first Bangladeshi to cross 1000 runs in ODIs in a calendar year, including three consecutive hundreds against Zimbabwe. A colourful 12 months got just got better for him with the appointment as vice-captain and Bangladesh Cricket Board's player of the year award.
The downside wasn't tough to spot: Bangladesh played just four Tests in the year, with the next one due in May 2007, thanks to the game's administrators who cannot ensure a decent number of Test matches and yet expect the team to be competitive against higher-ranked sides. "We are feeling good about our cricket and playing well as a team", said captain Habibul Bashar. "The spirit is the best I have seen in a Bangladesh side. What pains me though, is the fact that we will not get a Test for a staggering 12 months. It is so unfortunate, especially after the series against Australia where we proved that we are a match for anybody if we play to our potential."
"We have the future tours programme and unfortunately that is the way it is so we make the best we can with what we have and at the moment it's Zimbabwe and Scotland," said Tigers' coach Dav Whatmore.
The year began with Sri Lanka's visit and Bangladesh had moments in the two Tests that they lost but then stunned the Lankans in the second ODI in Bogra before going down 2-1. Kenya came and were brushed aside 4-0 and Australia expectedly made a clean sweep of the Test and ODI series but not before a scare or two on their first tour of this country.
Bangladesh won 18 ODIs, including a continuing streak of eight in a row; and, if you consider the winning percentage, they are third in the world just behind Australia and New Zealand
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The Tigers' overseas assignment began shakily after Zimbabwe won 3-2 against the odds but revenge was taken in style at home with a 5-0 whitewash of the same opposition. In between Kenya were blanked 3-0 in Nairobi and an inexplicable collapse from 91-1 to 161 all out against the West Indies spoiled Bangladesh's Champions Trophy challenge in India. The last opposition was interestingly Scotland who went down without a fight in two one-dayers.
New man on the block - Sakib Al Hasan Batting, bowling, fielding, you just can't keep him out of a game. Sakib (19) was a star of the Bangladesh U-19 squad in the World Cup at the start of the year and was later inserted into the Zimbabwe-bound squad. Since his debut he has averaged 45 with the bat and has snapped up 15 wickets. He is fast making the number four position his own and is an integral part of the Tigers' 'awesome threesome' left-arm spin attack.
Fading stars - Mohammad Ashraful When Ashraful made that epic 136 in his first innings of the year (1st Test against Sri Lanka), followed by a couple of 50s in the one-day series, many thought the boy-genius was finally coming of age. He lost his touch, though, and then lost his place in the squad for the home series against Zimbabwe before a much debated recall. Averaged 25.22 in ODIs in 2006, a shame really considering his world-beating talent.
High point - Victory over Sri Lanka and deal with Nimbus The most creditable win was undoubtedly against Sri Lanka in Bogra, where the Tigers chased down 212 with four wickets to spare. In November Nimbus Sports International struck a six-year deal with the Bangladesh Cricket Board for its worldwide marketing agency rights for approximately US$ 57 million, over four times the amount of the previous deal, signifying the growing value of Bangladesh cricket.
Low point - Third ODI in Harare What should have been a prelude to the party in honour of Shahdat Hossain, who'd completed the first hat-trick by a Bangladeshi bowler, went badly wrong with Mortaza's 18-run final over handing Zimbabwe an unlikely win. That was a sucker-punch from which Bangladesh could not recover.
What does 2007 hold? Apart from the World Cup in the Caribbean and a much cherished visit by India in May, there isn't much to look forward to unless there are arrangements made for series on the side of the FTP. The World Cup will be fascinating if the Tigers can pounce on either India or Sri Lanka - that would make the Trini Posse go wild.
Bangladesh in 2006 | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn/NR |
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Tests | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ODIs | 28 | 18 | 10 | 0 |
Rabeed Imam is editor of tigercricket.com
© Cricinfo
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December 25, 2006, 08:16 AM
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BC Staff BC Editorial Team
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Mods : Fix the title.
It should be Rabeed Imam Wraps up 2006/ reviews 2006.
Title is misleading.
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December 25, 2006, 01:23 PM
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Test Cricketer
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Join Date: December 27, 2004
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Crappy topic name!
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December 25, 2006, 01:25 PM
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Cricket Legend
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Whatever happened to him, neway?? I always enjoyed his writing, but recently, there are fewer and fewer of his to read (in cricinfo)....Note the bottom of the story, the part about the author....Theyve changed it! Great piece btw.
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^True dat^
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December 25, 2006, 02:00 PM
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Cricket Guru
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A great summary of 2006...no questions asked. And I like the way he summarised it. A great read.
Many parts of the article are awsum. Here is my favorite part:
Quote:
In November Nimbus Sports International struck a six-year deal with the Bangladesh Cricket Board for its worldwide marketing agency rights for approximately US$ 57 million, over four times the amount of the previous deal, signifying the growing value of Bangladesh cricket.
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December 25, 2006, 02:03 PM
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Cricket Guru
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Konka33,
Ash has been rightly called a fading star. We have to live with it and look forward. If he can't produce, he has to face criticisms of this type. I agree with Rabeed Imam.
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December 25, 2006, 02:09 PM
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Banned
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BD4eva
Whatever happened to him, neway?? I always enjoyed his writing, but recently, there are fewer and fewer of his to read (in cricinfo)....Note the bottom of the story, the part about the author....Theyve changed it! Great piece btw.
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Rabeed Imam is part of BCB now, as their media manager. He has a lot of added responsibilities. In my last conversation with him, he was talking about having less and less time for writing. He's regularly attending the office, taking part in meeting and press conferences and travelling with the team.
He does visit Banglacricket regularly though.
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December 25, 2006, 02:11 PM
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Banned
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kabir
Konka33,
Ash has been rightly called a fading star. We have to live with it and look forward. If he can't produce, he has to face criticisms of this type. I agree with Rabeed Imam.
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I agree with the above completely, specially after some analysis I've recently done. Presently, Ash is becoming a liability of the middle order.
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December 25, 2006, 02:16 PM
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Cricket Guru
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billah
He does visit Banglacricket regularly though.
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He should write some articles for BC also...although his article being published in Cricinfo may have a wider audience outside the Bangladesh cricket fans group.
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December 25, 2006, 02:17 PM
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Cricket Legend
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billah
Rabeed Imam is part of BCB now, as their media manager. He has a lot of added responsibilities. In my last conversation with him, he was talking about having less and less time for writing. He's regularly attending the office, taking part in meeting and press conferences and travelling with the team.
He does visit Banglacricket regularly though.
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Which means what we put in here has a direct connection to the top. Our ideas could make a difference.
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Ashraful is like the Eids. Lots of fun twice a year.
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December 25, 2006, 02:33 PM
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Cricket Guru
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pagol-chagol
Which means what we put in here has a direct connection to the top. Our ideas could make a difference.
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I would assume not much...coz he's the media manager. But yea...he could have some of his points made.
Can we have him participate? Pay per msg?
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December 25, 2006, 02:57 PM
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BanglaCricket Staff
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kabir
I would assume not much...coz he's the media manager. But yea...he could have some of his points made.
Can we have him participate? Pay per msg?
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He is already a Registered member of BC. His nicks are DstarRab& Rabeed.
Since after he has joined Tigercricket... he doesn't post in BC much. But he has got contacts with us.
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Well...you only get one chance to make your first impression somewhere...!
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December 25, 2006, 03:04 PM
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Cricket Guru
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Great news. Thanks Ahmed bhai.
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December 26, 2006, 01:25 AM
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ODI Cricketer
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Good Article..Nice to read..I liked they he rightly criticized FTP...And, nice to know that he is a member of BC.Would love to see him dropping comments here sometime.
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I am losing everyday, my team only looses sometime. I am and will always stand by my team.
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December 26, 2006, 03:07 PM
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Cricket Legend
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Well, Rabeed stopped posting after March 2005, probably because he moved into a position where he has to maintain authority protocol by not spilling out things in public forums. If any of you have personal contact with him could you ask him about Shamsul Islam. McInnes predicted that he would be the Messiah of Bangladesh cricket. Haven't heard much about him since other that some mediocre stats in the leagues.
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Ashraful is like the Eids. Lots of fun twice a year.
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