Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi: Rising stars of Bangladesh cricket

Sohag Gazi

Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi are the players to watch out for. Both scored a century and the latter even took a hat-trick for Bangladesh against New Zealand in the first test at Chittagong. Both these players are touted as capable and full of potential. Bangladesh always had talented players since their entry into international cricket but only a handful or even less fulfilled the promises.

Bangladesh Cricket team earned the status of a Test playing nation of ICC in the year 2000. They hosted India in Dhaka. Unsurprisingly and understandably they lost by 9 wickets. Despite losing to the cricket giant of the sub continent, they held promises of a bright future.

Aminul Islam Bulbul made an unfazed century in the first innings. Captain Naimur Rahman scalped six wickets for 132 runs which remains the second best bowling figure in a country’s maiden test match. That was no menial job.

According to Wisden, the minnows had their moments during the match, sometimes enjoyed the upper hand over the seasoned opposition. The first outing thus ended up promising for the host and hopeful for budding cricketers and fans across the country.

Did they fulfil the promises? Did they live up to the standards of a test playing nation? Well, a distraught Bangladesh cricket fan would hang his head down if asked the same. Three test wins off 78 tests played is lacklustre and uninspiring. There are reasons aplenty. Lack of infrastructure, absence of quality domestic tournaments, lack of international exposure, and experience are a few to mention which Bangladesh Cricket Board mourns.

However, they have always produced one or couple of ragging tigers over the years. That’s exactly why a tiger is perched upon the board’s insignia.

Mohammad Ashraful made headlines when he smashed a century against Sri Lanka in his debut in the year 2001 to become the youngest player to score a test century. The new kid on the block hogged the lime light. He personified ‘the tomorrow’ of Bangladesh cricket.

Some experts even went on to say he was the Sachin Tendulkar of Bangladesh. Immense was his talent and nobody denied it having seen that debut knock. He was very young, hence flashy. That meant like any young lad who seemingly lacked proper attention and grooming, he kept flashing at every ball and gifted away his otherwise priceless wicket.

According to Saurav Ganguly, Asharaful’s 158 against India in 2004 was one of the best test innings he had seen. Since then, Ashraful failed to keep the promise. He surely did not do justice to his talent. A string of poor performances and inconsistency kept him in and out of the team. Surely, there was no celebrated cricketer like Ashraful in Bangladesh but that did not take him too far.

The ascent of Shakib Al Hasan presents a different story of emerging youngsters in Bangladesh. Though he was spotted as a batsman who could be handy as a slow left arm bowler, his 7/37 against New Zealand in 2008 at Chittagong cemented his place in the squad. He emerged on to the top for the rest of his teammates to look upon. Cricket fraternity took notice off the player. Hasan became a part of discussions about quality spin bowling in the international arena.

In 2008, Australian leggie Kerry ‘O Keefe praised him as the best finger spinner in the world, then. In 2009, he was awarded The Wisden Cricketer’s ‘Test Player of the Year’. It was indeed a moment of pride and honour for a cricketing nation in doldrums. Hasan averages about 36 runs in 31 test matches with a highest score of 144 runs. In the year 2011, he was ranked the world’s top ranked all rounder.

Probably the best player ever produced by Bangladesh, Hasan continues to inspire cricketers and fans in the country alike.

Having mentioned two contrasting stories of two very talented young cricketers from the region, the two rising stars, Mominul Hague and Sohag Gazi could either make or break. Bangladesh has the likes of Shakib Al Hasan who will go the extra mile to nurture and up bring the next generation, just like how he dived forward to catch the ball one handed to gift a deserving hat-trick to Sohag Gazi.