Abdullah Al Mehdi

Just as the ICC Champions Trophy is facing uncertainty due to the dispute between the cricket boards of India and Pakistan, there remains an ambiguity over Shakib Al Hasan’s participation in the event – something the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has failed to clear up thus far.

This week, what Yashasvi Jaiswal did at Perth and what the Bangladesh batters failed to do in Antigua could be enough to realise why the two countries are on opposite sides of the spectrum in Test cricket.

Faruque Ahmed was officially announced as the president of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on 21 August. Yet, just two months in, governance issues are already surfacing within the board. While former president Nazmul Hassan Papon ran operations like a one-man show, Faruque appears to be centralising operations similarly, as seen in skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto’s captaincy situation.

Bangladesh’s all-format captain Najmul Hossain Shanto expressed a wish to step down from captaincy after the ongoing South Africa Test series, the first match of which the Tigers lost by seven wickets in Mirpur last week and the final game to be played in Chattogram from tomorrow.

Batting debacles are a regularity in Bangladesh cricket and they appear to be happening more frequently in recent times.

Miraz has been involved in all three latest fightbacks with the bat in Tests after a top-order collapse.

The third T20I between Bangladesh and India on Saturday in Hyderabad was a dead rubber, with the hosts already up by 2-0 in the series. From a Bangladeshi perspective, the main point of interest in the match was whether the Tigers could put on an improved showing, especially on the batting front.

On Friday, on a visit to the First Lancer Ground in Hyderabad’s Syed Nagar area, the hub for cricket in the locality, this correspondent came across Jayed Khan, a young fast bowler with dreams of making it big as a cricketer.

It rained in Hyderabad yesterday afternoon, a day before the third and final T20I between Bangladesh and India, but soon it ebbed away giving way to sunshine, although not for very long.

The streets of the Shankargarh village area were packed with incoming traffic at 5:00 PM, some two hours before the first T20I between India and Bangladesh yesterday. There was tight security but that hardly dampened the fans’ excitement for the game in Gwalior, where international cricket had returned after 14 years.

Bangladesh are going into the T20I series against India with promise of more aggression and intent to win. But when going against international teams of the highest-order, Bangladesh’s T20 merits fall short of the standard.

Towhid Hridoy flicked a ball that went the distance while batting against a net bowler yesterday in Gwalior’s Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium. While the youngster almost casually cleared the boundary, the veteran Mahmudullah Riyad had to take his time to get his bat speed going once he came to bat in the nets.

The area around Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior, set to stage the first of three T20Is between Bangladesh and hosts India, is on “high security alert” ahead of the venue’s first-ever international exposure.

“It’s blown with the wind, so Sachin’s name isn’t there. We had left it like it was in the game,” said scorer Sunil Gupta while looking at the dilapidated scoreboard at the Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior.

It was unclear to reporters present at the Kanpur Green Park Stadium yesterday what was halting the third day’s play of the second Test between Bangladesh and India from getting on to the field.

Shakib Al Hasan came, he saw, and he conquered, in his own way.

India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin is 38. Yet he appears to be just easing into the process of refining his art, ball by ball. His delivery that beat Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque on Day 4 of the first Test in Chennai yesterday was so belligerent that it almost defied any explanation.

When he arrived in Chennai for the first Test against India yesterday, Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud’s Test career was three matches old. From an unknown entity to earning the appreciation of the proud cricket-loving fans of Chennai, Hasan has certainly created a mini ripple.

“Actually, Shakib’s [Al Hasan] batting, he is not in rhythm,” Bangladesh selector Hannan Sarkar said at the press conference in Mirpur after announcing a 16-member squad for the upcoming India Tests this month.

After the successful Pakistan tour, the programme's value has finally come to the limelight, especially in how players talked about the benefits of their preparation.