Friday, March 29, 2024

Finally discovered

In the early spring of 2002, Surjo Tarun was a Premier League club in a hurry. They were desperately looking for young players and in their search, the officials stumbled upon a skinny lad who practiced at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium.
Elias Sunny was already popular in the age-group competitions and almost everyone in the locality knew of his exploits in taped-tennis cricket. In the 2001-02 season, he made his debut for the mid-table club against Mohammedan Sporting Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. After a wicket-less spell of left-arm spin, Sunny was caught and bowled by Hashan Tillekaratne, the former Sri Lanka skipper who bowled off-spin very occasionally, for a duck.
Sunny has come a long way since that ill-fated debut more than nine years ago as his inclusion in the Twenty20 side against West Indies suggests.
“I started playing when I was 14 in the Discovery academy nets. Once I made my Premier League debut, I never looked back,” said Sunny.
“Making it to the Bangladesh team is huge. I find it hard to express my feelings but I know it is also important that my focus is on regaining the spot,” he added.
In the last three years, it has been a series of good performances that landed him the spot. Though he may yet find himself among the reserves, Sunny believes the recognition is inspirational enough to fight his way into the playing XI. “I don’t know if I will play but I will give my all if I’m picked,” he said.
Sunny has admitted that regardless of his performance in the Premier League, National Cricket League or even other competitions at home, it was the tour of South Africa for Bangladesh A earlier this year that shaped his mind about the rigours of top-level cricket.
“In South Africa, I bowled well but more than that, I saw how international cricket is played. I can say that I got 70% of how the game is played at the top-level and as a result, I think that tour was vital for my growth as a player,” said Sunny.
During the BCB Cup final, he bowled a diligent 8-over spell that yielded just 13 runs, setting up the rest of the Bangladesh A bowlers for a final flourish. “It was also in front of a big crowd,” he reminded with a smile.
For years, Sunny, aged 25 now, was the marquee name for Discovery, a cricket academy where hoards of children from the age of five are trained. The Hazaribagh lad has said privately that he often found it hard practicing in the off-season for the lack of opportunity at the top, despite performing in the Premier League regularly.
But he has finally been offered his chance, and if his resilience in bouncing back from that debut is anything to go by, he might find himself among those he has aspired to be for the past decade.

-With The Daily Star input

Related News

ICC bans Nasir for two years

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain has been for two years by the International Cricket Council after he accepted three charges of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board’s Anti-Corruption Code. The charges against Nasir were in relation to the 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 League. Six months of his two-year ban is suspended, meaning the ... Read more

New Zealand win 3rd T20I to level series 1-1 with Bangladesh

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 17 runs (DLS method) in the third and final T20I of the three-match series against Bangladesh at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday. The win made sure the hosts level the series 1-1 after losing the first match, and the second contest being called ... Read more

New Zealand-Bangladesh second T20I called off due to persistent rain

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com The second T20I between New Zealand and Bangladesh of the three-match series at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui has been called off due to persistent rain. New Zealand were 72-2 after 11 overs when the umpires decided the rain was too heavy to continue the proceedings. Shoriful Islam was impressive ... Read more

Shorna seals Tigresses’ historic first-ever T20I win against South Africa

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com All-rounder Shorna Akter stole the show in Benoni as she picked up five wickets to hand Bangladesh women’s national team their first-ever win on South African soil as they beat the Proteas by 13 runs in the first Twenty20 International of the three-match series on Sunday. This is Bangladesh’s first win ... Read more

Bangladesh’s Marufa and Rabeya included in women IPL auction list

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com The second edition of the Indian women’s franchise-based Women’s Premier League will take place next year. The auction for the tournament will be held on 9 December this year. Bangladesh cricketers Rabeya Khatun and Marufa Akter are placed in the draft of that auction. The base price of both of them ... Read more

Bangladesh wins historic Test match against New Zealand

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Taijul Islam picked up his second 10-wicket haul in Tests to take Bangladesh to a historic 150-run win over New Zealand on the final day of their first Test in Sylhet on Saturday. This is Bangladesh’s second-ever win over New Zealand and the first at home against them. This is also ... Read more

England brings down the Tigers

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladesh failed to maintain the momentum gained by beating Afghanistan in the opening match as they suffered a massive 137-run defeat against defending champions England in the second match of the ICC World Cup in Dharamsala on Tuesday. After being put into bat first by Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, England ... Read more

Emirates shares excitement with cricket lovers

The airline brand named ICC’s Cricket World Cup airline partner Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Emirates has announced it is the official airline partner of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Kicking off the 13th edition of the tournament, the airline brand shares its excitement for the game with a video featuring Indian batsman, Dinesh ... Read more

South Africa crush Sri Lanka by 102 runs in World Cup opener

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com South Africa came with a dominating performance as they defeat Sri Lanka by a big margin of of 102 runs in the fourth game of the World Cup on Saturday. The Proteas bowled the Lankan batters out for 326 runs in 44.5 overs while defending the mammoth total of 428 runs ... Read more

Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 6 wickets in opener

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com A stunning all-round display from Mehidy Hasan Mirza, who notched up a half-century and claimed three wickets, powered Bangladesh to a comprehensive six-wicket win over Afghanistan in their first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in Dharamsala on Saturday. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Bangladesh captain ... Read more

Nagad to gift BMW to Bangladesh cricketers if they win World Cup

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com If Bangladesh wins the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2023, mobile banking service provider Nagad will gift BMW-branded cars to every cricketer in the team. This was announced by Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and managing director of Nagad, expressing his belief that winning the World Cup would be a significant ... Read more

Pakistan see off Netherlands and starts the World Cup successfully

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Pakistan opened their World Cup 2023 campaign with a comfortable 81-run win against the Netherlands on Friday at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. , quickly chipping away all the wickets despite a steady start by them. The Netherlands could not hold on to the momentum and kept on losing wickets at ... Read more

New Zealand thrashes England in Cricket World Cup opener

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com England’s World Cup defense began with a punishing nine-wicket defeat in Ahmedabad as New Zealand grabbed a measure of revenge after four years of preparation. Organizers were planning a repeat of the 2019 final to kick off this year’s tournament, but rather than a nail-biter as the excitement of the Lords ... Read more

England’s Stokes in doubt to start World Cup due to hip injury

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com There are doubts about injury risk for Ben Stokes in England’s opening World Cup match against New Zealand on Thursday (October 5) after a hip injury kept the all-rounder out of the teams’ pre-tournament warm-up matches. Stokes reversed his year-long retirement from one-day international cricket in order to help defend the ... Read more

Tigers ready for effective representations

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan said on Wednesday that he believed that the team was ready for a good display in this edition of the ICC World Cup as they have prepared well for the tournament despite a below-par performance in the recent past. The Tigers are coming into the tournament ... Read more

Tigers find fresh air with warm-up win sans Shakib

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com After all the controversy that had been going on in the cricketing fraternity since the squad announcement for the World Cup 2023, Bangladesh finally found a fresh breath of air on Friday as they beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in their first warm-up game for the upcoming event. The biggest ... Read more

Shakib blames then-captain Tamim for Afghanistan series loss

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan blamed former captain Tamim Iqbal for the home ODI series loss to Afghanistan earlier this year. The all-rounder said in the second part of his interview with T Sports that for the first time in his life he had seen a captain announce his retirement after ... Read more

Tamim childish and not a team man, says Shakib

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said that Tamim Iqbal, who was left out of Bangladesh’s 15-man squad for the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup, was not a team man because he was unwilling to obey the order. Tamim, after being left out, posted a video on his Facebook page on Wednesday, ... Read more

Tigers set off for World Cup mission

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com The Bangladesh national cricket team left Dhaka for India on Wednesday to take part in the upcoming ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, scheduled to take place from October 5 to November 19. Bangladesh will begin their campaign for the tournament against Afghanistan on October 7 in Dharamshala. Before leaving the country, ... Read more

New Zealand crush Tigers to win first bilateral series in Bangladesh since 2008

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com New Zealand geared up for the World Cup as they whitewash Bangladesh in the three-match series 2-0, with a seven wickets win in the final one-day international in Dhaka on Tuesday. This is New Zealand’s first bilateral series victory over the Tigers in Bangladesh since 2008. Playing to avoid a series ... Read more