What makes a cricketer unlucky? Well, there are a number of criteria; in case of a fast bowler injury is always a concern.

For many; it can be case of picked at the wrong time; perhaps against the wrong opposition.

Or, it can be a case of not given enough chances. The purpose of this article is not to go into detailed analysis regarding these criteria. Here, I would like to talk about five Bangladeshi cricketers who were denied by poor luck the chances of greater recognition at both the national and international level.

Aliul Islam
An opening batsman and occasional WK, Aliul played his only first class match during the 1967-68 season representing the Dacca University side.

With East Pakistan emerging as the new sovereign nation of Bangladesh in 1971; there was no more scope for first class cricket for him.

Instead, Aliul, along with other experienced players like Shamim Kabir, Raquibul, Ashraful, S.M. Faruk, Mainul Haque, Altaf Hossain played prominent role in establishing the cricketing structure in the new born country. (In time they would form the core of Bangladesh’s first national side).

Even that wasn’t easy. Immediately after our independence, a group of socialist politicians wanted to ban cricket describing it as a capitalist sports. If they had succeeded, the history of Bangladesh (not only our cricket history) would have been very different. Thankfully, they failed, and club cricket at Dacca gradually became more organised. Aliul took the responsibility of leading Abahani KC; the team from Dhanmondi had just emerged as a new force in local sports. Thus, he spent his best time playing club cricket in Dacca.

At least, he had the chance to be a part of history. He was in the playing XI of the North Zone side (led by Raqibul Hassan), that took on MCC at Rajshahi during the 1976-77 season in a two-day match. This is the first international match in Bangladesh history. This, however, was Aliul’s only international match.

He played club cricket for a number of years after that. As the Abahani captain, he helped young players like Omar Khaled, Belayet Hossain and Dipu Chowdhury build their careers.

After retiring as a player, he was heavily involved with cricket administration here. And at one stage he was a selector of the Bangladesh Test team.

He died in Feb. 2011, a day after attending the opening ceremony of the 2011 WC at the BNS as an invited guest.

[latest_videos_strip category=”cricket” name=”Cricket”]

Belayet Hossain Belal
This is a Dinsesh Karthik-like story. A highly competent WK and a hard hitting middle order bat, he remained in the fringes of the national team for a long time, as Shafiq-Ul-Haq Hira was the undisputed No.1 keeper of the country.

In fact, in all his international matches, he appeared as a specialist middle order bat. In his debut match, playing for the South Zone side (led by S.M. Faruk), at Jessore against MCC, in January 1977, he scored 22 in each innings. Later in the season, in the final of the Dacca league, he scored a fine half century and shared a century stand with Omar Khaled, as Abahani defeated Victoria SC to lift the title.

His batting was ideally suited to one day cricket, and it was no surprise to anyone when he was included in the ICC trophy team in 1979. He played in three of the four group matches; but like everyone else in the Bangladesh top order, he struggled in poor batting conditions. He scored only 42 runs; but quite remarkably his average of 21.00 was the second best among the Tiger batsmen. Dipu Chowdhury, our new ball bowler, topped the averages with 26.50, thanks to some late cameos.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the focus in local cricket was shifted completely towards the limited over game; and Belal, quite shrewdly gave up wicket-keeping to concentrate on his batting. With his stocky build, he scored heavily of the back foot, square of the wicket on both sides.

He was overlooked for the ICC trophy in 1982; but was called to replace out of form Rafiq, (who was relegated to the second string team called the Bangladesh Tigers), for the first SEA cup in early 1984. And batting in the middle order, he didn’t disappoint the national selectors.

His best effort came in the league match against Singapore; his 75* earned him the MoM award. After a top order collapse, he shared an unbeaten fifth wicket stand of 159 with Nehal Hasnain. And the pair would come good again in the final against HK, as their partnership at a critical stage helped Bangladesh win the match by three wickets.

In the spring, Belal toured Kenya with the national team. This, however, would be the end of his international career. The management was looking at the future; and there were plenty of young middle order batsmen available. Lipu was the new captain, Rafiq had regained his form; and there were emerging talents like Minhajul Abedin, Atahar Ali, Faruk Ahmed, Nehal Hasnain and Munir to just name a few.

So, Belal’s international career ended in 1984. Quite interestingly, Hira also ended his international career at the same time.

(Creative Commons picture)

Shahnewaz Shahid Shanu and Mahbubur Rahman Selim
I have put them together; because their stories are exactly similar. They both were solid right handed middle order batsmen suited to the longer versions of the game. Both had excellent technique against fast bowling, both came in to prominence in the late 1980s. And, with Bangladesh giving more importance to limited over games at the time, both remained fringe players for the national team for a long time despite scoring freely in the domestic arena for more than a decade.

Shanu, from Rajshahi, came first. He was a regular in Dhaka club cricket from the mid 1980s. But, it was during the 1988-89 season, while playing for Bangladesh Biman that he first showed his true form. The 1988-89 season saw a great improvement in the quality of cricket at the Dhaka league, as some SL international played regularly for different clubs. Interestingly, Biman, the only team without a foreign recruit won the title. And Shanu was their star batsman.

With Atahar Ali Khan struggling for form, there was extra responsibility on his shoulders. He handled the extra pressure superbly to lead his team’s batting chart.

After this season, he remained a prolific run scorer in the domestic arena; yet, with Bangladesh focusing mainly on ODI cricket he failed to get the recognition he deserved. He was part of the Tiger’s ICC Trophy team in 1990 and 1994, but featured in only two fixtures, and got only one innings.

Not enough opportunities to establish himself. After the 1994 fiasco, there were massive changes in the Bangladesh team, with youngsters given their chances. Shanu’s chances of international recognition was gone. After retiring from cricket as a player, he has been involved with cricket coaching.
.
Selim from Mymensingh, played for Rupali Bank in the 1988-89 season. And he showed maturity beyond his age, as he, along with the national star, Aminul Islam Bulbul, formed the backbone of their batting. A year later, he impressed while playing for the national U-19 team.

In the summer of 1990, he toured Denmark with the national team, as part of our preparation for the fourth ICC trophy in the Netherlands. But, he failed to impress in the practice matches; and didn’t make the ICC trophy team. Interestingly, in one practice match, he opened the innings, not his natural position, in another he came at No. 8,

Selim had to wait almost a whole decade to make his debut for the full Bangladesh team. In March, 1999, he played his only ODI against Zimbabwe, at Dhaka. He came in to bat late in the innings, failed, and thus ended his international career.

For both Shanu and Selim, luck was never in their side. Just as they came in to the limelight during the 1988-89 season; Bangladeshi already had a formidable middle order including skipper Gazi Asharaf Lipu, his deputy Minhajul Abedin Nannu, Atahar, Akram Khan and Aminul Islam Bulbul.

After Lipu retired in 1990, Faruk took his place in the number 3 slot. Atahar Ali moved to the opening slot in 1993; but there were Sanwar, Selim Shahed and Habibul Bashar, ready to take his place, youngster Al-Shahriar and Naimur came soon, making it very difficult for Shanu and Selim to stake their claims.

Bangladesh was granted their Test status in 2000. For Shanu and Selim it came a decade too late.

Tushhar Imran
Back in the 1980s, Mymensingh and Chittagong were the main source of cricketing talents in Bangladesh. Nowadays though, Khulna Division in the South West of the country has emerged as the prime source, Shakib from Magura, Jessore and Mashrafe from Narail, are well known international figures.

Less well known to the international audience is the name of Tushar Imran, also from Jessore. Yet, for the last four or five seasons, he has been a prolific run scorer in the domestic cricket. His runs, combined with Abdur Razzak’s wickets have made Khulna Division and the South Zone teams major forces in the domestic circuit.

In January of this year, Tushar became the first Bangladeshi batsman to score 10000 first class runs and Razzak became the first to 500 first class wickets; both achieving the feat in the same match. These feats briefly brought them to limelight; and Razzak got a somewhat unexpected recall to the Test team. But, Tushar still remains largely ignored by the national selectors.

Tushar had already stated after his January milestone, that his hunger for runs hadn’t diminished a little bit. Undaunted by the selectors behaviour, he has carried on with his work manfully. He had a steady season in the Dhaka 50 over league; one day cricket was never his forte.

Once the first class resumed again in April, he was back to his best. As if to prove some point to the selectors he scored 130 and 103*against the East Zone side in the same match at Sylhet. Later, he added two more half centuries in the next two fixtures.

Yet, his Test average of 8.90 compares very poorly with his overall first class average of over 43. In his five year Test career between 2002 to 2007 he played in only 5 Tests. Like many of his generation, he was picked a bit too early; certainly to send him to the SA tour in 2002 was a big mistake. He was battered by some world class fast bowlers and lost his confidence.

While many people still question his ability to handle genuine pace, he certainly is the perfect man both in terms technique and temperament for the turning pitches of the subcontinent.

In recent Test matches in Bangladesh; the temperament of many of our young middle order batsmen has come in to question. Tushar may not possess the elegant stroke-making of some of the youngsters; but his technique is solid; and his temperament unquestionable.

As the first class season ended here last month; one of the selectors mentioned that both Tushar and Razzak are now very much back in the radar of the selectors. This is great news no doubt.

But my only apprehension is that whether the selectors have overlooked him when he was at his prime. He is approaching 35, and time is running out for him.

Of course, I will be most delighted if the selectors do pick him for home Test matches; and he proves my apprehensions wrong.