Aftab Ahmed - A sad end to a promising cricketing career

Aftab Ahmed was arguably one of the most exciting talents ever to emerge from Bangladesh. But sadly, his cricketing journey didn’t last longer. Bangladesh cricket saw the end of another promising career in a sad manner.

The young talent from Chittagong

Aftab Ahmed was born in Chittagong and it was because of his father’s influence he took cricket seriously. His talent started to catch the attention of the selectors and during the Under-19 World Cup in 2002 the selectors were highly impressed with his confidence and aggressive stroke-play.   

Aftab was picked in Test squad in the following year against England, despite failing to impress in the warm-up matches. His selection was not welcomed by the local press and the little boy had to wait one more year to play for Bangladesh. Aftab’s dawn was just breaking.

Aftab was just playing his third one-day international at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka. The Tigers were defending a mere total of 146-run against the touring New Zealand side. From that New Zealand side, chasing such a total was supposed to be a cakewalk, but suddenly a little man’s gentle medium-pace bowling simply made the New Zealand batting order to reel.

From 76 for 1, the Kiwis had slumped to 133 for 7. Among those seven wickets, that little boy had grabbed five and each dismissal was celebrated with a smile full of life – a silent local crowd had found something to cheer. Even though his selection in the team was as a batsman, he caught everyone’s attention with his bowling and since then, he bowled ten overs in most of the matches he played in.

His batting was a celebration

The talent of Aftab dazzled more in limited-overs than Test cricket. Very soon he established himself as one of the vital members of Bangladesh cricket team. He was an aggressive stroke-maker and bulldozed the bowlers with his bat mercilessly. He was happier on the front foot, but could shift his balance on the back foot as well and execute the hook and pull shot with enough confidence. He was able to drive, cut and loft with enough power and could innovate when needed. Aftab’s batting was a celebration of sport.

But when the situation demanded, Aftab used to check his attacking instincts and played the role of a sheet anchor. He was involved in quite a few effective partnerships during his short limited-overs cricket career which proved critical in scripting Bangladesh’s success. His batting became a symbol of courage and confidence in Bangladesh cricket.

Sad end to a promising career

In 2008, Aftab and many of the national team players joined the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) and were handed a ten-year ban by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). After playing in the ICL for one year, he quit and made himself available for national team selection. But that confidence of Aftab was lost. He was last seen to play for Bangladesh in 2010 and since then, he became an unknown face.

Recently, Aftab announced his retirement from all forms of the game. It’s pretty hard to accept the sad end of such a promising career at the age of 29. But the fact is, yet another talent from Bangladesh has failed to fulfill the expectations.

So far, many promising talents have emerged from Bangladesh cricket, but sadly they didn’t last longer. Why such things happen remain a moot question. The BCB must be smart enough in preserving such talents. They need to act like a sensible guardian. We wish to see flowers blossom and not fade away.

Note: This article has been published on Sportskeeda on 30/08/2014 http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/aftab-ahmed-sad-end-promising-career

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

Bangladesh Football - The Sylhet crowd has given us new hope

Not the kind of result which the Bangladeshis would have expected from the Under-23 football team. They lost the match by 1-0 against the Nepal Under-23 team in front of a jam-packed crowd at the Sylhet National stadium. Especially, the Sylhet crowd would have loved to see the hosts leaving the ground victorious.

But the Sylhet crowd deserves a big thank you. The atmosphere was absolutely electrifying. It seemed like a carnival.  The Sylhet crowd has proved again that football's appeal in Bangladesh has still not vanished. Still football attracts the mass community.

 If the appeal of soccer has vanished in Dhaka then this can never be the yardstick to measure the popularity of football in Bangladesh. Neither the opinion of a group of idiotic people can ever ring football’s death bell in Bangladesh.

Why doesn't the Bangladesh Football Federation popularize soccer outside Dhaka? Did they ever try such?

I get annoyed when I see some of the ex-football stars of Bangladesh to say, "Once soccer had a golden time in Bangladesh". Oh come on man! Why didn't you people try to revive that golden time? Every sport in a country passes through a transition period but that transition period must be overcome with appropriate planning and of course the legends of the past have always proved critical in overcoming such hard times.

But, what have our past football legends done? We have only seen the great Salahuddin to give efforts. But, is one person's effort enough? How many football academies do we have?

Cricket has emerged as the most popular sport in our region but cricket was never a threat to soccer. Some idiots have made cricket a threat. The inability to understand the pulse of the public and lack of vision and effort has let the downfall of soccer in our country.

But this is not the end of the story. Bangladesh football can rekindle its glorious past. The Sylhet crowd has given us new hope.

Sitting back and basking in past glories won't bring back the glory days. You need to stand up and do something to bring the change and I think our past footballers can do that. I am always optimistic.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

Mahela Jayawardene’s retirement will see cricket losing one of its best leaders

The first time I saw Mahela Jayawardene in action was against England in Australia during a tri-nation one-day tournament. That match is still remembered by many due to the tussle between Australian umpire Ross Emerson and Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga, but few tend to remember a young man’s valiant contribution which ensured Sri Lanka a dramatic win.

Jayawardene, the batsman

Amid a complete hopeless situation, a young lad remained calm and composed to notch-up a brilliant hundred and thus, I came to know about a young man named Mahela Jayawardene who could follow the footsteps of Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga in the near future. And the young man did carry on De Silva and Ranatunga’s legacy splendidly.

Since that knock at Adelaide, Jayawardene’s career started to flourish. His bat continued to essay some of cricket’s prolific knocks and gradually he became Sri Lankan cricket’s most valuable and respected player. With the bat in his hand, he had been an artist in an era when most of the batsmen were more addicted in bludgeoning the cricket ball. Very few sights in world cricket had been as pleasant as Mahela Jayawardene’s batting – his silken drives through the covers and wristy flicks off his pads have always been a cricket romanticist’s treat.

Then there were those cuts and dabs behind the stumps – both against the spinners and pace-bowlers and some well-timed strokes in the ‘V’ were pure gems.  Blessed with an excellent hand-eye coordination, playing the ball late has been one of Mahela’s assets and he has been such a batsman who was the master in playing strokes all around the wicket.

Taking over captaincy

But, over the years, this little man’s brilliant captaincy and sound cricket brain kept on impressing me time and again.

This quiet and polite guy inherited Sri Lanka’s captaincy by default during the England tour in 2006 when the touring captain Marvan Atapattu was injured. In the first Test at Lord’s, the Lankans were all set to digest a heavy defeat and amid such circumstances, a captain needed to script something special to maintain the confidence of the team.

Jayawardene rose to the occasion and defied all the odds to score a brilliant hundred and ensured one of Sri Lanka’s greatest escapes in their Test history. His 119 in the second innings was a captain’s rearguard which converted a first-innings deficit of 359 runs into an overnight lead of 22 runs. With that knock Mahela answered his critics who always used to say that captaincy would affect his batting and with that Lord’s hundred the Lankans, who were written-off by many before the tour, rediscovered their self-confidence.

After a shoddy performance at Edgbaston in the second Test, the Lankans bounced back strongly at Trent Bridge to level the Test series and they returned home from England with their heads held high by beating the English team comprehensively in the one-day series. What was supposed to be a one-sided affair in favour of the hosts, turned out to be a memorable one for Sri Lankans and the credit must go Jayawardene who lifted up the morale of the team by leading from the front.

One of Sri Lanka’s greatest leaders

In the following years, as a captain, the right-handed batsman had been superlative. He stabilized Sri Lankan cricket and even his second stint as Sri Lanka’s captain in 2012-13 was highly significant as because during that time, Sri Lankan cricket was again in need of stability and again, Mahela installed self-confidence in the team.

The most striking thing about Mahela Jayawardene’s captaincy had been his innovativeness and attacking instincts. He was never that sort of captain who usually waited for things to happen, but more often than not, he used his brain to make things happen – suddenly there would be a wide third or fourth slip, a man at extra-cover or short mid-on or mid-off, a leg slip, some tricky bowling changes or a surprising shuffle in the batting order – Mahela’s brain always remained busy to bring his best for Sri Lankan cricket.

Even when he was not captaining the side, he was never shy to pass on productive advice to the captain and during such times his cricket brain never used to stop working. It always kept on thinking about new innovative ideas which made captains like Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews reap rich harvests. He was one of Sri Lanka’s most influential captains ever.

Describing Jayawardene, former Sri Lankan coach Paul Farbrace said: “As a leader, and a team man, there is no one you would rather have around than Mahela. Even when he's not captain, he's the leader of that Sri Lanka team, and I think Angie [Angelo Mathews] has learned a lot from him over the past few months. Everything he does is always for the team and for Sri Lankan cricket. There is not a selfish bone in his body. For any overseas coach, he's your go-to guy, because he's thinking about everyone in the team - the seniors, the juniors, support staff - everyone. He's a real people person and that's his great strength. He is a world-class player and a world-class person. Sri Lankan cricket will not realize how much he means to the team, until he's gone.”

Jayawardene will retire after the ongoing Test series against Pakistan. Another great player will leave the scene. You will keep on missing his artistic batting, but I shall always miss his unique and brilliant cricketing brain.

Note: This article has been published on Sportskeeda on 08/08/2014 http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/mahela-jayawardenes-retirement-cricket-losing-best-leaders

Thank You

Faisal Caesar