Abdullah Al Mehdi

That Bangladesh’s Test future ultimately rests on how they can develop a pace attack that can be relied upon, cannot be stressed enough.

“I hope some good comes of this,” Barcelona defender Gerard Pique had said after his team’s 8-2 mauling against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals. That it was not just another 3-1 or 4-2 defeat was perhaps something Pique hoped Barcelona could learn from. He summed it up with ‘we’ve hit rock bottom’, which implies that there really is no way left to go but up.

“There has been criticism of him not training here and going off to the IPL and things like that, but Shakib [Al Hasan] does his talking on the field.

“I feel the situation will improve little by little but if you think that things should resume when situation becomes very good, by that time cricketers won’t be able to survive,” Shamsur Rahman Shuvo said while talking to The Daily Star when asked about the difficulty that the pandemic has brought.

“Don’t know when we will be able to play Test match again,” star batsman Mushfiqur Rahim tweeted alongside a picture of the second Test between England and the West Indies on Monday night.

When Shannon Gabriel walked off the field after his five-for on the fifth and final day of the Southampton Test, helping bowl England out for 313 for a chase of 200 for the Windies, there was no cheering crowd to give him an apt send-off back to the dressing room.

Words have been exchanged between relevant boards, at least through the media, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) media director saying yesterday that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s announcement of the cancellation of the Asia Cup, holds no weight.

The eyes of the cricketing world will be focused on Southampton today when England take on the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in what will be the first international cricket series since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic more than three months ago.

Lionel Messi trudged off alone down the tunnel as the game against Atletico Madrid ended 2-2, the result extinguishing any realistic chance for Barcelona to win the title.

What has gone on till now regarding the resumption of cricketing activities in Bangladesh is understandable, given context.

Novak Djokovic on Tuesday said he was “deeply sorry”. After all, he had set in motion the chaos during an ill-fated Adria Tour -- a tournament he himself organised through his foundation -- which acquainted tennis with the realities of the current pandemic.

“It’s only for the time being, right?” Abu Jayed asked this reporter when queried about how the saliva ban, ratified by the ICC last week, was going to impact him as the chief proponent of swing bowling in the country.

Cricket will have to come to grips with the new paradigms brought on by the coronavirus pandemic as the ban on saliva and use of substitutes ratified by the ICC yesterday. But the fast bowlers in Bangladesh, who appear ready to make the leap to the next level and enhance the country’s cricketing status further, will need to undergo a more seminal change.

Anyone who has seen Wasim Akram run in and bowl from the striker’s end would know that strange feeling -- a mixture of awe and fear of what is coming at them.

India’s batting maestro Virat Kohli is known for his steady resolve and endurance in the most difficult of chases.

Many national cricketers have fallen by the wayside after promising starts to their careers. The likes of Nasir Hossain, Suhrawardi Shuvo, pacer Shahdat Hossain and more recently Sabbir Rahman had shown early promise but did not blossom into regular performers for the national team and failed to feature for the side regularly.

“There are times when we back into a corner with no place left to back into … and then we go on attack and become mentally stronger,” Mashrafe Bin Mortaza reminisced on his injury troubles -- seven knee surgeries and more -- during an online meet with Tamim Iqbal on Monday night.

Nazmul Abedin Fahim is one of those few souls who had a purposeful hand in leading Bangladesh cricket against immense challenges.

GM Nausher Prince, the former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) national selector had worked with some of the best talents in the country.

‘April is the cruellest month,’ T.S Eliot had written in The Waste Land. Given the current coronavirus crisis the world over, this April is likely to be another cruel month for mankind.