Bangladesh look up to Habibul Bashar to help regain lost pride

The name of Habibul Bashar will always be remembered with utmost reverence. Bangladesh had the stuff to produce results, but they were badly in need of a leader who could guide them. A captain who could nurture the young talent, keep his cool under pressure and instill confidence in the young men. Habibul Bashar did all that for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s performance flourished after Bashar took over the captaincy from Khaled Mahmud in 2004. He made his team believe that winning is not an impossible. He had brilliant man-management abilities and knew how to get the best out of his players. Players like Shahriar Nafees, Abdur Razzak, Aftab Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, and Mushfiqur Rahim got the confidence to perform under Bashar’s leadership. In tandem with the shrewd Dave Whatmore, Bashar honed a team blessed with talent and grit. The world soon acknowledged Bangladesh as a cricketing force.

As a batsman, the stylish Bashar had the strokes to be a genuine Test player. The pull and the hook were his favorite strokes, but often those were also the very strokes that brought many of his innings to a premature end.

His innings of 70 against India in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test at Dhaka was treat. Bashar came in to bat 10 for one in the first innings, with moisture still on the wicket and Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan looking ominous. But Bashar emerged on top with aggressive intent.

But since his debut in 1995, Bashar was a victim of whimsical selection. In fact, he was not in the original playing eleven for the inaugural Test. He, however, earned a reputation of being Mr Consistent with passage of time and established his place in the side.

Elevation to the captaincy made his batting unproductive. The pull and hook shots were there, but they didn’t fetch runs. However, his thoughtful captaincy and sound knowledge on the game fetched rich dividends. In 2004 Bangladesh gained an overseas ODI win over Zimbabwe, and the same year the team beat India in the second ODI at Dhaka. In 2005, Bashar led Bangladesh to it’s first-ever Test and ODI series win by beating the touring Zimbabwe. The victory against Australia in the NatWest Tri-Nation series in 2005 at Cardiff was one of the highlights of his captaincy. The next year, under his captaincy, Bangladesh almost beat Australia in a Test match. He led Bangladesh to successive ODI series wins over Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2006.

The World Cup campaign in the West Indies in 2007 was another highlight of his captaincy. At Trinidad, Bashar’s men stunned India. India were knocked out of the World Cup after losing to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – along with Sri Lanka – were in the Super Eights, where Bangladesh beat the Proteas.

After an unsuccessful Test series against India in 2007, Bashar was dropped from the side and the captaincy went to Mohammad Ashraful. With no signs of recall, he led an exodus from Bangladesh to the ICL in 2008 as captain of the Dhaka Warriors. He was subsequently handed a 10-year ban by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

But the passage of time has helped Bashar’s relationship with the board and he is now a national selector. Hopefully, he will be able to help Bangladesh regain their lost pride. And Bangladesh believes that he has it in him to deliver the goods.

Note: This article was published on Cricket Country on 15/06/2014 http://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/bangladesh-look-up-to-habibul-bashar-to-help-regain-lost-pride-3392

Thank You

Faisal Caesar