ICC World Cup 2019: Bangladesh Squad

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday (April 16) named a 15-man squad for the impending World Cup, which will be co-hosted by England and Wales from May 30, 2019. Among the players, Abu Jayed Chowdhury Rahi was the surprise inclusion in the Bangladesh team. The 25-year-old pace bowler, who has already played 5 Tests and 3 T20Is for his country, is likely to make his One Day International (ODI) debut in the World Cup. Taking his current form and fitness into consideration, he has been picked up in the squad instead of Shafiul Islam and Taskin Ahmed.

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The exclusion of Taskin Ahmed and Imrul Kayes from the World Cup squad faced huge criticism both in social and mainstream media. Taskin Ahmed, the 24-year-old fast bowler, showed his brilliant performance in the sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), taking 22 wickets in 12 group stage games. However, he sustained injury towards the end of the BPL 6 in February though he featured in a Dhaka Premier League (List A) match after recovering from his injury recently, but failed to impress the selectors with his fitness. 

Veteran player Imrul Kayes is perhaps the most unlucky player. Despite having scintillating form throughout the last year, scoring 436 runs with two centuries in eight matches, the player failed to claim a spot in the World Cup squad because the team management wanted a right and left-handed combination at the top order. For this reason, he was not taken to the squad.

There might be a change in the World Cup squad after the end of the tri-nation series in Ireland. The BCB president said that change could be made in the squad till May 23 based on the performance of the players. Out of 19 players, who are currently in Ireland, the World Cup team will see the omission of 4 players having miserable performance in the tri-nation series, including host Ireland and West Indies.

Bangladesh World Cup Squad: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (C), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed Rahi, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mosaddek Hossain.

Bangladesh beats the higher-ranked team Cambodia in a FIFA International Friendly

Youngster Rabiul Hasan netted the ball in the 84^th minute of the match and led his team to a 1-0 victory against the host nation at Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. With this triumph, the visiting side maintained their unbeaten record against Cambodia as they won twice and drew once in their last three encounters against the East Asian country. However, it was the first international goal for the 19-year-old player, who plays for Arambagh Krira Sangha in the domestic league. This win against a higher-ranked football team in their own ground in an international friendly on Saturday (March 9) certainly made the supporters of red and green ecstatic.

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Bangladesh could have won the match by a bigger margin had they not missed a few easy chances. On pen and paper, the 172^ndranked team Cambodia was favorite, but they were outshined by the performance of the tigers, who are currently ranked 192^nd in the latest FIFA ranking, throughout the match.

This victory was much needed for Bangladesh to enhance their morale. With this achievement, the men in red and green registered their first international win after five months as their last win came against Laos 1-0 at Sylhet District Stadiumin the Bangabandhu Gold Cup on October 1, 2018. It took them almost four years to get their first victory away from home as they last beat Bhutan 3-0 at Trivandrum International Stadium, Kariavattom, India in their SAFF Championship match. They also got a victory in the opponent team’s ground after six years as they last won against Nepal 2-0 at the Dasrath Rangosal Stadium in Kathmandu back on March 4, 2013.

Source:

https://www.dhakatribune.com/sport/football/2019/03/09/bangladesh-beat-cambodia-1-0

Bowlers who have taken all 10 wickets in an innings in Test cricket

It is perhaps all bowlers’ dream to destroy the opponent team’s batting line up single-handedly. It is such a difficult and nearly impossible task that only a few cricketers have done it so far. However, many more players are likely to be included in this elite club in future, but the pitch being more batting friendly, it has become really very hard for bowlers to take all the wickets of an opponent team in an innings in the longest version of the cricket team. As cricket is a game of making new records, anything can happen. 

Jim Laker:

England’s right-arm off break bowler, James Charles Laker (who is popularly known as Jim Laker), became the first cricketer to achieve this feat in the history of cricket game. This incident took place at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1956 when the bowler picked up all 10 wickets of the Australian cricket team for 53 runs in 51.2 overs in the second innings of the fourth Test of the 1956 Ashes series. However, in the first innings of the same match, the spinner also bagged 9 wickets conceding 37 runs in 16.4 overs. The remaining one wicket of that innings was taken by Tony Lock. Jim Laker ended up taking 19 wickets for 90, which is a world record in first class cricket. Because of his outstanding performance, this match has become known as Laker’s match. He led his team to win the match by an innings and 170 runs. 

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Full Scorecard- http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17417/scorecard/62814/england-vs-australia-4th-test-australia-tour-of-england-1956 

Anil Kumble:

It looked like no other players will be able to touch this record. However, 43 years after Jim Laker set this record, Anil Kumble of India repeated the history at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi in 1999. The right-arm leg spinner (leg break googly) grabbed all 10 Pakistani wickets in the second innings of the 2^nd Test bowling 26.3 overs giving 74 runs. With this achievement, Anil Kumble became only the second bowler to reach the feat of taking all the wickets in an innings. However, in the first innings of the same match, he could pick up only four wickets, totaling to 14 for 149. Because of his good performance, India won the match by 212 runs.

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Full Scorecard- http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15864/scorecard/63829/india-vs-pakistan-2nd-test-pakistan-tour-of-india-1998-99

Mehboob Alam:

Nepalese cricketer, Mehboob Alam, has also equaled this record, but his one is different from the other two players mentioned above because he has done it in the limited version of the cricket game. The left-arm fast bowler took all ten wickets of Mozambique giving 12 runs in 7.5 overs in a match during the 2008 ICC World Cricket League Division Five in Jersey. So far this is the best bowling figure in a limited over cricket match. Because of his superb bowling, the opponent team was bowled out for just 19 runs.

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Source:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/wi/content/records/283203.html

https://www.quora.com/How-many-bowlers-have-taken-10-wickets-an-inning

https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/sports-news/i-can-remember-every-wicket-anil-kumble-reminisces-historic-all-ten-against-pakistan-20-years-on-6044191.html

https://www.indiatimes.com/sports/meet-richard-stokes-the-man-who-got-to-witness-both-10-wicket-hauls-in-test-cricket-335115.html

Bangladesh cricket team fails to avoid the whitewash

Despite scoring a century, Sabbir Rahman could not save his team from being whitewashed by the host New Zealand in the recently concluded 3-match ODI series. Once again the top-order batsmen failed to make some resistance with the bat. As a result, the Bangladesh cricket team lost the third and final ODI match by 88 runs at University Oval, Dunedin on Wednesday (February 20). They also lost the previous two matches by eight wickets.

Batting first, New Zealand scored 330 runs losing 6 wickets in their allotted overs. Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor and Tom Latham scored 64, 69 and 59 runs respectively, while Neesham and Colin Grandhomme scored 37 runs each. Because of their collective effort, the home team could put on a mammoth chasing total for the opponent team.

Bowling 10 overs, Mustafizur Rahman took two wickets conceding 93 runs. Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin and Mehidy Hasan Miraz are other bowlers who claimed one wicket each.

Coming to chase New Zealand’s 331-run target, the touring team was bowled out for 242 in 47.2 overs. Sabbir Rahman played an innings of 110-ball 102 with 12 fours and two sixes. Mohammad Saifuddin and Mehidy Hasan Miraz also played two handy innings of 44 and 37 runs respectively. Their innings helped the Tigers to avoid a shameful defeat.

For New Zealand, Tim Southee was the most successful bowler. He alone grabbed six wickets for 65, and for his performance he was later declared the Man-of-the-match. Trent Boult and Colin De Grandhomme took 2 and 1 wickets individually. 

Martin Guptill was named the Player-of-the-series.

The three-match Test series between New Zealand and Bangladesh will kick off from February 28.

Source:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12205708

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