Nabid Yeasin

Who would win LaLiga 2023-24?

An act of publicly taking the blame and responsibility, an initiation or indication of setting in motion an overhaul, or a statement of how things are to be taken from here on -- none of the aforementioned measures or steps were taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) even as over a fortnight passed since Bangladesh closed their disastrous World Cup campaign.

It was an anticlimactic finish to the 2023 World Cup for arguably the largest cricketing fanbase -- India fans -- as they saw the best team on paper tumbling at the final hurdle only for Australia to clinch their sixth title last week.

It was inevitable. More than it being a question of if, it was rather a debate over how and when.

From aspirations of making it to their maiden semifinal to barely qualifying for the 2025 Champions Trophy with an eighth-placed finish, Bangladesh’s World Cup dream has fluctuated as wildly as its tumultuous state of affairs. 

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Bangladesh will take on India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune, a venue where 300-plus scores are the order of the day.

“I did not do anything special,” Mohammad Rizwan said after guiding Pakistan to a record World Cup run-chase against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Four years back, the country’s top all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan, was engulfed by the type of pressure that all athletes feel at least once in their careers: the pressure of not performing on the field. 

Having gone into the Asia Cup with lofty dreams, as it so often is the case with Bangladesh despite no history of success in major tournaments, skipper Shakib Al Hasan has already put it in the rearview mirror.

Rubel Hossain’s yorker going through the bat and pads of James Anderson at the Adelaide Oval in the 2015 World Cup will forever remain one of the most iconic moments in Bangladesh cricket.

Links of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, rumours of Neymar returning to Barcelona have been the commonalities of the transfer market over the past few years. This summer, however, in addition to the aforementioned sagas, the emergence of one major entity -- the Saudi Pro League -- has taken the transfer market by storm.

From a statistical vantage point, the winning streaks of then and now might seem similar – or some might keep the streak of 2021 ahead as it involved the Aussies and the Kiwis, two giants of the game -- but in reality there lies a stark difference.

Depicted on the wall of Manchester City’s treatment room, ‘Our Goal’ is written over a picture of the Champions League trophy -- a silverware that has eluded the blue half of Manchester despite billions of dollars splurged into shaping up their squad over the years.

Chandika Hathurusingha’s reappointment as Bangladesh’s coach for a second stint could not have come at a more agreeable time.

After having the media analyse and scrutinise the now-confirmed ‘strained relationship’ between Tamim and Shakib that had gone on to ‘stale the dressing room environment’, Hassan performed a stunning U-turn on his words on Monday, just a day after Tamim denied any ‘unhealthy environment for the past 15 years in the dressing room’ in a pre-series presser in Mirpur.

The recent success stories of the country’s women’s sides across different sports -- Bangladesh’s triumph in the SAFF Women’s Championship last year still very fresh in memory -- have not only resulted in a boost in viewership but also raised the bar of expectation from the girls representing the nation at any level in any sport.

Ever since Liton Das made his international debut in a Test against India back in 2015, the common sentiment, especially from within the team management, has been that he is a player with a ton of potential to flourish.

France’s Kylian Mbappe is set to meet his good friend Achraf Hakimi once again at this World Cup. But this rendezvous is definitely going to be very different than their first meet-up which was at the team hotel of Morocco in downtown Doha where the France forward paid his Paris Saint-Germain teammate a visit just about a week ago.

When Cristiano Ronaldo walked down the tunnel in tears at the Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday, it must have felt surreal for millions of his and Portugal fans around the globe.