With the deadline for the announcement of Bangladesh’s 15-member squad for the ICC World Cup 2015 looming large speculation is ripe about who is going to make it and who can miss it. If history is anything to go by, it could be unpleasant for at least one senior cricketer as it happened in the past four World Cups for the Tigers. It all began in 1999 when Bangladesh played in their first World Cup with the squad coming in after a lot of off the field dramas as it nearly brought to a premature end of the career of country’s one of the all time best cricketers.
He is none other than Minhajul Abedin, the former national captain and the current selector, who was initially overlooked sparking a nationwide debate that ended with his dramatic call up.
Minhajul had scored a century in a warm-up match two days before the announcement of the squad, showing his form, which sadly could not satisfy the Enayet Hossain Siraj-led selection committee.
The then BCB president Saber Hossain Chowdhury directly intervened in the matter and finally disbanded the selection committee to include Minhajul at the expense of opener Jahangir Alam, who was in the original squad.
Minhajul proved his mettle scoring two crucial fifties in the World Cup against Scotland and eventual champions Australia and announced his retirement afterwards.
Four years later it was the turn of another former national captain Akram Khan, who was omitted from the squad.
Akram’s omission from 2003 World Cup squad was surprising given the kind of experience he had at international level.
Selectors had to eat a humble pie when they recalled him in the middle of the disastrous campaign taking the opportunity of a freak injury of Mashrafee bin Murtaza.
The dismal performance of the batting unit had already exposed Tigers’ batting ineptitude forcing the selectors to replace a pacer with Akram, who responded to the SoS by nearly scripting a win against Kenya.
Khaled Masud had to make his way to accommodate Mushfiqur Rahim in 2007 World Cup despite a lot cricket left in his career.
Selectors opted for Mushfiq before Mashud mainly to strengthen the team’s batting.
If there was any debate about Mushfiq’s inclusion at the expense of Mashud, the former buried it scoring a vital fifty against India in the opening match that marked the beginning of an extraordinary tournament for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh maintained their tradition of excluding at least one former captain in 2011 when they omitted Mashrafee bin Murtaza from the 15-member squad. There was strong debate about Mashrafee’s fitness; though the player insisted he could be fit enough to play at least few matches at later stage.
Any former captain is unlikely to be excluded from the squad this time around but this could still be the end of at least one senior cricketer.
Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, the leading wicket-taker of Bangladesh in one-day international cricket, is anxiously waiting to know his fate as the selectors are chalking their plan before January 7 deadline.
Razzak’s form declined considerably in recent months, which prompted the selectors to overlook him in the recent Zimbabwe series despite him recovering sufficiently from a hamstring injury.
Arafat Sunny and Taijul Islam replaced him in the team and created an instant impact giving the selectors ample food for thought before the World Cup selection.
The meteoric rise of leg-spinner Jubair Hossain only gave them an added dilemma.
-With New Age input
