Four years ago, Nasir Hossain took a big risk when he quit the BKSP to join Abahani for the Dhaka Premier League. BKSP were then playing in the league, so it was mandatory for every student to play for the sports academy side. Abahani had come up with a huge offer which was very tough to refuse. So Nasir had only two choices in front of him. First, stay at the BKSP to follow in the footsteps of Abdur Razzak, Sakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and many others who graduated from the academy and got into the national cricket team. Second, accept the Abahani offer and take the arduous path of proving his mettle in the domestic tournaments, where one’s performance often does not get proper recognition. Nasir, a boy with sheer confidence, opted for the second one and now can take satisfaction from the fact that he did not make any mistake. As he was preparing to become the newest Tiger in Zimbabwe, Nasir told New Age on Saturday that his dream has finally come true. ‘I was always hoping for it. I had to leave BKSP early, but then I knew I have not lost my path,’ said Nasir. ‘After the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2007, I got a chance to enrol at the GP-BCB National Cricket Academy, where I spent nearly four years. Only two of us from that batch got this chance. The other one – pace bowler Rubel Hossain – already established himself in the national team and I knew that my chance will also come sooner, if not later. I was not in a hurry.’ The talent of Nasir was spotted even before his admission at the BKSP in 2004. Trained by local coach Shakil in his home town Rangpur, he was selected for an under-13 national camp in Dhaka. He stayed for two months in the camp but was unfortunate not to have any competitive game. His admission to the BKSP was also not very easy. He had to compete with 10,000 boys of his age and was lucky to be one of the 25 cricketers shortlisted for enrolment. He started his BKSP life as a top-order batsman, but at the insistence of coach Mohammad Salahuddin (former fielding coach of the national team) he went down to middle-order. The decision paid him a rich dividend as he started performing regularly as a middle-order batsman at every level. He helped Bangladesh win the SA Games and Asian Games gold medals and is now waiting to excel at the highest level.
–With New Age input
