Bangladesh starts the 3-match ODI series with a defeat against New Zealand

New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets in the first ODI match played at McLean Park, Napier and took 1-0 lead of the 3-match ODI series on Wednesday (February 13). The Kiwi opener Martin Guptill played an unbeaten innings of 117 runs, which helped the home team to reach the target with 33 balls remaining at hand. He along with his opening partner Henry Nicholls put on 103 runs on the scoreboard in the first-wicket stand. However, Nicholls was bowled by Mehidy Hasan Miraz on 53. Skipper Kane Williamson, who scored 11 runs from 22 balls, was trapped leg before by Mahmudullah. Guptill then made a 96-run third-wicket partnership with Ross Taylor who remained not out on 45. Both of them led the team towards victory.

Winning the toss, Bangladesh ODI captain, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, decided to bat first. Because of the failure of most of the top-order batsmen, the touring team could not make a competitive score. Mohammad Mithun and night watchman Mohammad Saifuddin could make some resistance with the bat. The duo made an 84-run partnership in the eighth-wicket stand, which lifted Bangladesh from 131 for 7 in the 29th over to 215 for 8 in the 45th over. Mohammad Mithun scored 62 off 90 balls while Mohammad Saifuddin scored 58-ball 41. Earlier Soumya Sarkar played an aggressive innings of 22-ball 30. Thanks to them, Bangladesh could make a decent total of 232 runs losing all wickets in 48.5 overs.

For New Zealand, Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner bagged three wickets each while both Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson took two wickets.

Full Scorecard- http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18805/scorecard/1153844/new-zealand-vs-bangladesh-1st-odi-bangladesh-in-nz-2018-19

The second ODI match between New Zealand and Bangladesh will be played on February 16 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. No doubt, the visiting team will try their best to win the match and keep their hope alive of clinching the title. On the other hand, the host team will leave no stone unturned to win the second ODI match in order to secure their ODI series victory with one match left at hand. Let’s see what happens.

Source- https://en.prothomalo.com/sports/news/191116/Guptill-century-caps-easy-New-Zealand-win

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza wants to play competitive cricket for 20 years

Bangladesh ODI skipper, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, on Wednesday expressed his desire to complete twenty years of his cricket career. To reach his two-decade landmark, the 35-year-old right-arm fast-bowler will have to play competitive cricket- Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Dhaka Premier League (DPL) and other domestic leagues- for two more years. Since making his international debut in November 2001, he has played both professional and international cricket for over 18 years.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is not sure if he will be able to continue his international cricket career after a certain time, but he wants to play competitive cricket as long as his body will allow him to do so. However, he earlier said that he might take retirement from international cricket after the 2019 World Cup.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is regarded the most successful ODI captain in the history of Bangladesh cricket. Under his leadership, Bangladesh cricket team has defeated almost all the strong teams in ODI format. His presence in the team encourages other players to perform better. During his career, he suffered many career-threatening injuries, which forced him not only to go under surgeries several times but also restricts him to limited overs cricket. He last played Test match in July 2009 and took retirement from T20Is in April 2017. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has so far played 202 ODIs, 36 Tests and 54 T20Is. 

Source:

https://www.dhakatribune.com/sport/cricket/2019/02/07/mashrafe-targets-playing-cricket-for-20-years

http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/186594

Sheikh Hasina International Cricket Stadium will be built in Purbachal within 2022

According to a decision taken by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), an international standard cricket stadium is going to be built on a 37.49-acre land in Dhaka’s Purbachal area over the next three years. This land has been allocated by the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. For this reason, the cricket board has decided to name the cricket stadium after her to express their gratitude. The decision of constructing Sheikh Hasina International Cricket Stadium has been taken at the fifth meeting of the Board of Directors chaired by the BCB President Nazmul Hassan Papon.

According to a report published by UNB, “The board has decided to invite an EOI for the consultancy of Sheikh Hasina International Cricket Stadium project. A project implementation committee will be formed to oversee the construction, expected to be completed in three years.”

We, as the citizen of the nation, are well aware of the fact that how much our prime minister loves sports, especially cricket. During her reign, Bangladesh cricket team has improved a lot. They have become indomitable at home ground and are also doing good performance abroad. They have risen to seventh, ninth and tenth positions respectively in ODI, Test and T20I formats, as per the latest rankings announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC). 

Source:

http://www.unb.com.bd/category/Sports/sheikh-hasina-intl-cricket-stadium-in-purbachal-within-3-years-bcb/11879

Shakib Al Hasan loses his top position to Jason Holder

Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan has lost his top position to West Indies captain Jason Holder in the ICC Rankings for the Test All-Rounders 2019. Among all three formats, Shakib Al Hasan maintained his dominance in the ICC Test all-rounder rankings. 

Following his all-round performance in the recently concluded first Test match against England at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Jason Holder has risen to the top position of the Test all-rounders’ rankings with 440 rating points. He scored an unbeaten double century and claimed two wickets, and because of his effort, the home team could beat the England cricket team by 381 runs. He has become the first Caribbean player after Sir Garry Sobers to achieve the number one spot in the ICC Test all-rounder rankings. He has also become the third player to score a Test double-hundred batting at No. 8 or lower.

Jason Holder is followed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, India’s Ravindra Jadeja, England’s Ben Stokes and South Africa’s Vernon Philander respectively in the second, third, fourth and fifth positions with 415, 387, 344 and 341 points accordingly.

The year 2018 was not good for Shakib Al Hasan. He sustained finger injury, which forced him to stay outside of the field for a long time. For this reason, he has lost his throne to other players and is now taking the second position in the all-rounder rankings of the Test, ODI and T20 formats. As a supporter of Bangladesh cricket team, I hope that he will regain his lost dominance in all three positions very soon. 

Mustafizur Rahman takes fifth place in the ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings

Mustafizur Rahman has perhaps become the first Bangladeshi cricketer to make his place among the top five players in the latest ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings. His good performance in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against West Indies has helped him to move five places up to fifth position with 695 rating points, his career best rank in ODIs ever. The southpaw, who claimed five wickets in three matches, is followed by Jasprit Bumrah (India), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav (India) and Kagiso Rabada (South Africa).

Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz has jumped 19 places to reach his career best ODI ranking of 28th after bagging six wickets against the Caribbean team. Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortazahas climbed 10 places up to 23rd. He also took the same number of wickets and along with Miraz shared the spot as the highest wicket taker in the series, which Bangladesh won 2-1 at home. However, all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is ranked 26th in the ODI bowlers’ rankings.

Now, let us look at the position of the Bangladeshi batsmen in the ICC player rankings for ODI batsmen. The wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim is enjoying his career-best 15th spot in the list with 712 rating points. Left-handed opening batsman Soumya Sarkar is ranked 42nd while his right-handed opening pair Liton Das is positioned 98th after rising four places. 

Source:

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/944893

Mustafizur Rahman is selected in the ICC ODI Team of the Year

Mustafizur Rahman became the only cricketer from Bangladesh to make his inclusion in the ICC ODI Team of the Year announced on January 22 (Tuesday). His good performance in the last year helped him to get this prestigious place. Playing 18 ODI matches, he took 29 wickets at an average of 21.72, with the best bowling figure of four for 43 against Pakistan in Asia Cup. He played an important role to beat Pakistan and take his team to the final of the tournament where their opponent team was India. 

Mustafizur Rahman along with Rashid Khan of Afghanistan and India’s Kuldeep Yadav jointly became the highest wicket taker in the 2018 Asia Cup. The left-arm pacer claimed 10 wickets at an average of 18.50. Because of his performance in the recently concluded ODI series against West Indies, the lanky bowler became the fifth best bowler in the ICC ODI bowlers’ rankings, his career-best rank in ODIs so far.

The ICC ODI Team of the Year is dominated by the players of India and England as both countries have four players each. The remaining three players have been picked up from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand. Indian cricketer Virat Kohli was named as the captain of the team. However, players from Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies could not make their place in the squad.

ICC ODI Team of the Year 2018:Rohit Sharma (India), Jonny Bairstow (England), Virat Kohli (India) (capt), Joe Root (England), Ross Taylor (New Zealand),  Jos Buttler (England) (wk), Ben Stokes (England), Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), Kuldeep Yadav(India), Jasprit Bumrah (India).

Source-

https://www.thedailystar.net/sports/bangladesh-cricket/mustafizur-rahman-in-icc-odi-team-of-the-year-2018-1691242

Cricketers who hit six sixes in the same over

Cricket is a game of record. There are many records in this game. Every day many new records are being created. Old records are being broken and replaced by new ones. Some records have been created as a team effort while the others have been made as individual performance. Of these, hitting six sixes in a single over is perhaps the most difficult one. This trend has been set by Sir Garfield Sobers and till now, it has been carried forward by a selected number of cricketers. 

Sir Garfield Sobers: 

West Indies all-rounder, Sir Garfield Sobers, was the first cricketer to do this impossible task in the history of the cricket game. On August 31, 1968, the Caribbean hard-hitter astonished the cricket world by hitting six successive sixes in an over bowled by Malcolm Nash who despite being a genuine pace bowler tried his arm at spin bowling. The bowler had to pay the price for his wrong choice of bowling action.

This record took place in a first-class county cricket match where Garry Sobers led Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at St. Helen’s in Swansea. Of these six sixes, five were massive while the sixth one was caught by Roger Davis, but it was unfortunately carried over the boundary rope. Scoring 36 runs in the same over, he broke the record for the most runs, 34, in a single over, a record held by Ted Alletson for 57 years. 

Ravi Shastri:

This trend pioneered by Sir Garry Sobers could have been achieved by very few cricketers till now. Of them, Indian all-rounder, Ravi Shastri, became the second player to include his name in this elite club 16 years after the West Indian legend set this record. On January 10, 1985, he made this record while playing for Bombay against Baroda in Ranji Trophy. He smashed six deliveries for gigantic sixes off the left-arm spinner, Tilak Raj. In the same match, he scored a 123-ball double century that required him only 113 minutes, which became the fastest ever double century in first-class cricket history. Despite his brilliant performance, the match finished without any result. 

Herschelle Gibbs:

South African opening batsman, Herschelle Gibbs, became the third cricketer to repeat this history, but his one deserves more appreciation because he achieved this feat in international cricket, unlike the previous two players who did this in domestic cricket. On March 16, 2007, he equaled the record after bludgeoning the Dutch leg-spinner Daan van Bunge hitting for maximum on all six deliveries in an over in a match between South Africa and the Netherlands at the 2007 World Cup at St. Kitts in Basseterre. He remains the only batsman to hit six sixes off an over in ODI cricket format. He dispatched sixes around the park. 

Yuvraj Singh:

Indian all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh, entered his name in the record book with his aggressive display of batting against England. He achieved this feat in a match at the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa. The unlucky bowler was Stuart Broad. The flamboyant cricketer sent all balls off an over cleanly outside of the boundary. Before this performance, he had a heated argument with Andrew Flintoff and that might prompt him to punish the English pace bowler Stuart Broad. The interesting thing is that when Yuvraj was in action at the field, Ravi Shastri was on the microphone to call the action, and who could be better than him who has done the same thing 22 years ago. He played some brilliant innings that helped India win the trophy that year. 

Ross Whiteley:

English all-rounder, Ross Whiteley, became the second cricketer in the T20 format and the fifth overall to reproduce this record. On July 23, 2017, he took 37 runs, including six over boundaries and one wide, off Karl Carver in a match between Worcestershire Rapids and Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley. Despite his heroic effort, his club Worcestershire Rapids could not win the match in the T20 Blast.

Hazratullah Zazai:

Afghanistan's left-handed batsman, Hazratullah Zazai, included his name on the record book as the sixth cricketer to hit six sixes in the same over. On October 14, 2018, he reached the feat in the inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) while playing for Kabul Zwanan against Balkh Legends. He smashed six sixes off Abdullah Mazari. He also became the third player to share this record with Yuvraj Singh and Ross Whiteley in T20 cricket format. Despite scoring 62 runs off 17 balls, his franchise could not win the match.

Kieron Pollard:

The Caribbean all-rounder, Kieron Pollard, added his name to the record book by hitting six consecutive sixes in an over against Akila Dananjaya of Sri Lanka. On March 3, 2021, he earned this feat in the first of the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. After Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh, he became the third cricketer to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket.  

Naeem Islam:

Very few cricket lovers are aware of his achievement. Even his name cannot be found in any record list. It might be because he is a Bangladeshi player and he made this record in a domestic cricket match. On November 13, 2009, Naeem Islam struck six sixes while batting for Gazi Tanks against Mohammedan at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in a Dhaka Premier League match. The bowler was Marshall Ayub who gave 36 runs in the 49th over of the innings. Till now, no Bangladeshi player could touch this record either in domestic or international cricket.

This record list might be extended by many more players in the years to come. Let’s see who can be a part of this record.  

Sources:-

https://sportsinquiry.blogspot.com/2018/10/hazratullah-zazai-becomes-sixth-player.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_(cricket)#Sixes

https://www.quora.com/How-many-cricketers-have-hit-six-sixes-in-an-over

https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/six-players-who-have-hit-6-sixes-in-an-over

https://news.williamhill.com/cricket/six-sixes-cricket-over/

http://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh-v-west-indies-2012/content/story/591514.html?fbclid=IwAR14kByY0GDHkuWuR6H6IhqR3ukDg8QyUjYWVr55hXztTI9fDx6XpoIBO18

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/sobers-hit-records-six-2161120