Mohammad Ashraful could not sleep for the whole night sensing the prospect of seeing his name in the newspaper the next morning as he was expecting a call into the Bangladesh Under-13 team for the trip to the Indian town of Shiliguri. He pored through several newspapers and found the squad list but his name was nowhere. This was a massive shock for Ashraful but he did not give up, largely because of his coach Wahidul Gani. Gani had a special eye on Ashraful ever since his cousin Afzal Ahmed Ponir took him to his Ankur Cricket Academy in 1996. Gani, a former national leg-spinner and a life-long bachelor, dedicated his entire life for producing cricketers and Ashraful was his best pick among the 60 students he had at his academy. Ashraful, despite his tiny size, could hit the ball as hard as anyone else even at that age which prompted Gani to take him to second division side Amarjyoti, a breeding ground for many other stars like Khaled Mahmud. Ashraful did not miss the Shiliguri bus next year and a man-of-the-tournament performance in the West Bengal district town helped him get a call-up for the Under-19 side as early as in 2000. He may be inconsistent these days, but it was his consistent run-making in domestic cricket and age-level competitions helped him get a national call-up before he had reached 17. His one-day debut has gone largely unnoticed but Ashraful took the world by storm on his Test debut, scoring a century against the likes of Muralitharan at his own den. It earned him two world records simultaneously – the youngest Test centurion and the youngest centurion on debut. The burden of expectation took a toll on him but Ashraful was always special on his day. His hundred against Australia in Cardiff and fifty against South Africa at the last World Cup are part of cricket folklore. Without him the history of Bangladesh cricket will also remain incomplete. His consistently inconsistent performance put his place in the side in jeopardy nowadays, but Ashraful has still remained a great asset for the Bangladesh team. ‘I hope this World Cup will turn things around for me. I just need one match-winning innings and everything will be changed for me,’ said Ashraful.
