‘আমাদের জন্য অনেক বড় সিরিজ’

পাকিস্তান সিরিজের অনেক আগেই বাংলাদেশকে ফেবারিট বলে ঘোষণা দিয়ে দিয়েছিলেন। এবার আর সেটা বলছেন না। সিরিজ জয়ের সম্ভাবনায় এগিয়ে রাখছেন ভারতকেই। তবে মহেন্দ্র সিং ধোনির দল যত বড় ক্রিকেট পরাশক্তিই হোক, তাদের বিপক্ষেও সিরিজ জয়টাকে অসম্ভব মনে করেন না সাকিব আল হাসান। কাল প্রথম আলোকে দেওয়া সাক্ষাৎকারে টেস্ট ও টি-টোয়েন্টির এক নম্বর অলরাউন্ডার বললেন, ভারতকে হারাতে পারলে সেটা হবে বাংলাদেশের ক্রিকেটের সবচেয়ে বড় অর্জন—
. ভারত সিরিজ তো প্রায় চলে এল। আপনাদের প্রস্তুতিও শুরু হয়ে যাবে কাল (আজ) থেকেই। প্রস্তুতিতে কোন দিকটায় জোর দিতে হবে বলে মনে করেন?
সাকিব আল হাসান: সব দিকেই সমান নজর দিতে হবে। আলাদাভাবে কাজ করতে হবে, এমন কোনো দিক নেই। ভারতের মতো দলের বিপক্ষে ভালো ফলাফল করতে হলে ব্যাটিং, বোলিং, ফিল্ডিং সবই ভালো হতে হবে।
. বিশ্বকাপে দুই দলের সর্বশেষ ম্যাচে অনেক বড় ব্যবধানে হেরেছিল বাংলাদেশ। সেই ম্যাচের কোনো প্রভাব কি পড়তে পারে এবারের সিরিজে?
সাকিব: দেখেন, এটা সম্পূর্ণই একটা নতুন সিরিজ। আমার মনে হয় না ওই ম্যাচের কোনো প্রভাব এখানে পড়বে। অন্তত আমার মধ্যে পড়বে না। দলের অন্যদের কথা বলতে পারব না।
. দেশের মাটিতে খেলা। সেই সুবিধা তো পাবে বাংলাদেশ...
সাকিব: অবশ্যই আমরা তা পাব। দেশের মাটিতে বাংলাদেশ বরাবরই ভালো দল। আমার বিশ্বাস, দলের সবাই ইতিবাচক মানসিকতা নিয়ে খেলবে। তা ছাড়া পাকিস্তান সিরিজে আমরা ভালো খেলেছি। মাঝে খুব বেশি বিরতি না থাকায় সেই স্মৃতিটা এখনো তাজা। বেশির ভাগ খেলোয়াড় এই সময়টায় খেলার মধ্যে থাকায় প্রস্তুতিতেও কারও ঘাটতি থাকার কথা না।
. পেস বোলিং নিয়ে কিছুটা সমস্যায় পড়তে হয়েছিল পাকিস্তান সিরিজে। এবার কি সেটা কাটিয়ে ওঠা যাবে?
সাকিব: নির্বাচকেরা নিশ্চয়ই বিষয়টা মাথায় রাখছেন। তবে আমার মনে হয় না এই সিরিজে কোনো সমস্যা হবে। বেশির ভাগ পেসারই এখন ফিট। আর যদি কেউ ফিট না-ও থাকে, যারা আছে তাদের নিয়েই খেলতে হবে। এ ছাড়া তো কিছু করার নেই।
. সে ক্ষেত্রে স্পিনারদের কি একটু বাড়তি দায়িত্ব নিতে হবে বলে মনে করেন?
সাকিব: আসলে দায়িত্ব সবাইকেই নিতে হবে। টেস্ট ম্যাচ জিততে হলে আপনাকে প্রতিপক্ষের ২০টি উইকেট নিতে হবে। সেটা একা পেসার বা স্পিনারদের পক্ষে সম্ভব না। সবাইকে সবার জায়গা থেকে ভালো করতে হবে।
. ভারতের ব্যাটিং লাইনআপ যেকোনো দলের জন্যই ভীতিকর। আপনারাও নিশ্চয়ই তাদের ব্যাটিংয়ের দিকেই চোখ রাখবেন বেশি...
সাকিব: এটা ঠিক যে তাদের ব্যাটিং ভালো। তাই বলে শুধু ব্যাটিংয়ের দিকে চোখ রাখলেই হবে না। বিশ্বকাপে ভারতের বোলাররা খুবই ভালো বল করেছে। দলটার ফিল্ডিংও বেশ ভালো। টেস্টে তারা এশিয়াতে সেরা, ওয়ানডেতেও বেশ শক্তিশালী দল। কাজেই ভালো ফল পেতে হলে ওদের সব দিক দিয়েই হারাতে হবে।
. বিশেষ কোনো ব্যাটসম্যান বা বোলারের কথা কি বলবেন, যাঁকে নিয়ে আপনাদের আলাদা করে ভাবতে হতে পারে?
সাকিব: না। ওদের সবাই ম্যাচ জেতাতে পারে। কোনো একজনকে নিয়ে আলাদা করে ভাবাটা হয়তো ভুলই হবে। তবে ম্যাচ জেতানোর মতো খেলোয়াড় এখন আমাদেরও অনেক আছে। ওরাও নিশ্চয়ই আমাদের সেভাবেই দেখছে।

'We need to work harder'

Rubel Hossain must be a relieved man. The sexual allegations that were brought against him were finally put to rest by a Dhaka court yesterday and he was discharged.

However, while he has managed to win one battle, another remains. The pacer now has to ensure that he recovers from his side-strain in time for the India series which begins on June 10.

The Bangladesh national cricket team attended their first camp for the India series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday with the members of the preliminary squad going through various fitness tests.
While Rubel couldn't attend the session since he had to be present at court, the team management will hope that the bowler can ace the second series of fitness tests due to take place today. Bangladesh's pace attack seems to be hanging by a thread, as both their key bowlers are struggling with injuries.

Apart from Rubel, Shafiul Islam is the other bowler the team management will be looking to. Shafiul though is still recovering from a finger injury. That leaves the team with Mohammad Shahid and Abul Hasan.
While Shahid did perform well in the last series, he took a major share of the burden due to injuries to Rubel and Shahadat Hossain and that's something the team management will hope does not happen again.
Apart from Rubel, Sabbir Rahman was the other member of the preliminary squad who wasn't present yesterday. He is currently in India for his father's treatment.

Trainer Mario Villavarayan expressed his optimism following Bangladesh's fitness session yesterday.
"It's been almost a year since I have been here and I am happy to see the change in attitude and their training habits in the last twelve months. But this year is going to be another busy year. So we have to keep working hard like we did before the World Cup," said the Sri Lankan.

"Taking into consideration that we played a lot of cricket recently, I am satisfied with the players. But there's still a lot of work to do," added Villavarayan.

Almost all the players expected to take part in the lone Test match against India from June 10 will be playing in the last round of the Bangladesh Cricket League which begins on May 24. It will be a round which could well provide a clear understanding of the players' injuries.

Critical angle: Bangladesh focusing on Champions Trophy spot

The rumors are out there, spreading like wild-fire: the news that a few Indian stars asked for some time-off after a hectic last few months of continuous cricket being played. With India's next assignment is a tour to Bangladesh, it could be justified for the two-time World Champions to feel it might be the right time to rest the likes of Kohli, Yadav, Dhoni and a few others with tours coming up in the recent future. India had spent over 4 months in the land down-under, first playing against Australia in a Test Series, then an ODI triangular including England. The World Cup was a near-two month affair, and then the IPL began at home.

Apparently India's biggest star Virat Kohli had asked to be rested for the tour to Bangladesh, and a few others might be raising their voices in a couple of days, formally. At the current scenario, Bangladesh might be facing a 'second-string' India in June at home.

It is not for the first time that India had not sent its full-strength side to Bangladesh for a tour. Just about a year ago, the likes of Kohli, Dhoni, Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were rested for a 3-match ODI series against the Tigers, which India won by a 2-0 margin. One side of the stone brings historic references which logically enhances the willingness for India to do the same this time round as well.

A retrospection on last year's context from Bangladesh's point of view portrays a story like this:

Bangladesh had lost to Sri Lanka early in 2014, starting from Tests, to ODIs to T20s. Amid a few injury concerns, disciplinary issues, transition in terms of change in coaching staff, suffering unexpected loses to Hong Kong in the T20 World Cup at home and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup, Bangladesh could not have been at a worse situation in terms of form and positive mental faculties. There were rumors of unhealthy internal clashes between players, most of it a direct reflection of the string of defeats and mostly the manner of them. Day in and day out, Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim had the same words for the media,"We could not perform to our potential, hopeful about the next match", and that elusive next match never came.

India won the first ODI of the 2014 series in a closely-fought battle, and won the second by defending 105 runs, helped by a freak-show from Stuart Binny who ended up with figures of 6 wickets for 4 runs. The third ODI was washed out. While India gave debuts to a couple of players on the tour, Bangladesh had two debutantes as well: Mohammad Mithun and Taskin Ahmed.

After reaching new lows in terms of the losing streak, the Tigers finally got back to winning ways after drubbing Zimbabwe 3-0 in the Test Series at home, and 5-0 in the ODI series. A few new faces had made their presence felt in the squad by then, and a wind of change took place with the new coaching-staff in charge. The World Cup campaign gave new life to team senior Mahmudullah, who ended up being the 7th highest run-scorer in the competition. It gave pacer Rubel Hossain a sniff at finally bringing out his fearsome side and display his skills to the World. With Masrafe's return as ODI and T20 skipper, Bangladesh unfolded new highs with newbies Soumya, Sabbir and Taskin contributing to a quarter final berth the World Cup campaign.

Pakistan came weeks after the World Cup, and Bangladesh played arguably the best bilateral series in their cricketing history after whitewashing the visitors 3-0 in the ODIs, 1-0 in T20s and even managing a draw in the eventually lost Test series from dire circumstances. Mushfiqur had already established himself as Bangladesh's run-machine, Tamim Iqbal seemed to have left his days of depression far behind, and many hungry Tigers like Liton Kumar, Rony Talukdar and Mustafizur Rahman waited their time in the bench. Bangladesh, in current context could be a threat to any top-ranked side, especially at home. And much of it had again to do with the run of wins the Tigers managed that paved a route of confidence and aggression never seen before, at least collectively. The skills of the players had finally began to translate into results, much more evident in the shorter formats of the game. Bangladesh have already moved up to number 8 in the ODI rankings, and are in serious contention for the Champion's Trophy spot for the first time ever.

In order to maintain the spot though, the Tigers need to keep winning against a few more top-ranked sides, and matches against India could be the first stepping stone. 'Nothing is fair in love and war', and in a battle of survival, there can be no compromise. Bangladesh would love to host a 'second-string' India at home: because what the Tigers want is victory, and maybe in the process scare away the thoughts from the minds of the 'big-guns' of not sending a full-strength side to the Tigers den.

Kohli may skip Bangladesh tour

The Indian team is likely to travel to Bangladesh with a new Test captain.
Virat Kohli has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India to exclude him from the tour as he is keen on taking a break following a long cricket season, reports the Indian Express.
It is learnt that the team is unlikely to include a head coach with the board yet to shortlist names for the role vacated by Duncan Fletcher. The tour to Bangladesh begins on June 10 with India set to play a lone Test and three ODIs.

Kohli replaced Mahendra Singh Dhoni as full-time Test captain after the long-standing skipper pulled the curtains on his career in the long format following the Boxing Day Test at the MCG last year.
But sources have informed The Indian Express that Kohli has already spoken to BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur about wanting rest once the Indian Premier League gets over.

Sources in the BCCI said that barring Fletcher, the rest of the coaching staff, who were there in Australia, are likely to be retained with Ravi Shastri set to remain as team director alongside Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar.

Kohli, though, is not the only senior cricketer with hesitations over touring Bangladesh next month. The BCCI senior selection committee headed by Sandeep Patil is scheduled to pick the squad on May 20, and it’s likely that they will go with a second-string outfit, an outcome that the Bangladesh Cricket Board is dreading.

‘Kohli has confirmed that he wants a break. Many senior players don’t want to travel to Bangladesh as they already have been touring a lot over the past one year. Few of them have requested for a break but the BCB wants at least some of the key players to be sent to Bangladesh as it will keep some interest alive with the TV viewers,’ a BCCI source said.

The source also confirmed that Fletcher’s replacement is unlikely to be named in the coming days. ‘We haven’t short-listed names of potential candidates who we think can coach the Indian team. The process is still in progress and it will take another month or so.’

Following the short tour to Bangladesh, India will travel to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka over the next two months. But for now, it will be interesting to see who takes over from Kohli.
Ajinkya Rahane could be in the fray despite not having much experience of leading a team at the senior level, domestic or otherwise.

But there is no clear front-runner in the race yet. Cheteshwar Pujara, who returned to India after a stint with Yorkshire in the county circuit, has led India A on a few occasions but hasn’t been among the runs in international cricket of late.

Rohit Sharma has won an IPL with Mumbai Indians while Suresh Raina has led India in the ODIs, but neither have impressed enough in five-day cricket to be handed the responsibility of leading the Test team.

Mushfiq’s captaincy secured for now

Bangladesh Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim can be rest assured that his captaincy won’t be taken away in 2015, said Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan on Saturday.
Mushfiq’s captaincy came under scrutiny during the recently concluded two-match Test series against Pakistan.

The decision to bat first in the second Test match where wickets turned out into a batting paradise after an hour in the first day, left the Bangladeshi bowlers helpless and everyone else surprised over his captaincy philosophy.

Pakistan exploited the gift to the fullest and recorded their first win in the series and in the process clinched the Test series after being clean swept in the three match one-day internationals and lone Twenty20 under the helm of Masharfee bin Murtaza.
‘There is no chance of replacing him [Mushfiq] this year,’ Nazmul Hasan told reporters at his residence on Saturday.
‘We don’t have any better option than him,’ said Nazmul.
‘I was in London during the second Test match and after we took fielding instead of batting that also raised questions on my mind.

‘I called Sakib [al Hasan] over phone, though he was not the captain. He told me that it was a combined decision and if the pace bowlers were not injured and we had got early breakthroughs things could have been different,’ said the BCB boss.

Mushfiq was replaced from the captaincy duties of ODI and Twenty20 in September 2014 after his defensive approach was often being criticised.
After replacing him, Mashrafee changed the face of Tigers ODI side with a 5-0 win over Zimbabwe in November in 2014.

Mashrafee followed it up with a World Cup quarter-final finish earlier this year and the 3-0 and 1-0 wins in ODI and Twenty20 series respectively over Pakistan.

In the new split-captaincy era, Mushfiq led Bangladesh to a 3-0 Test series win over Zimbabwe in October-November last year, but the 0-1 loss to Pakistan has again raised questions about his position as the captain.
However, Nazmul believes that instead of chopping the wicket-keeper batsman from the captaincy, time has come to consider whether he is taking extra burden of performing three jobs at a time.
‘I think it is very demanding to continue with all the responsibilities.’
‘To keep wickets for the whole day and then batting along with guiding a unit for five days can be taxing for anyone.

‘Mushfiq is our best batsman but we could not get his batting properly in the last Test match due to his injury during keeping and that harmed us a lot.’

‘If he has to leave any particular aspect than I would suggest it should be his keeping,’ Nazmul said.

Hope to play Test this year - Taskin Ahamed

Taskin Ahmed's burst in international cricket left many at the edge of their seats. The tall 20-year-old pace bowler has already added a flair to the Bangladesh pace attack under the leadership of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. However, his success has been limited to the shorter versions.
When Bangladesh's Test team has been crying for a quality pace bowler in their line-up, many have been curious to know why this exciting bowler doesn't get the nod for Test.

“Test cricket is the ultimate goal for any cricketer. I have started my ODI and T20I career, but I am looking forward to Test cricket, but I have some fitness issues," Taskin told The Daily Star yesterday.
"I am working hard to improve my strength in my knees so that I can make my dream come true this year. If not this year then next year is a must," the confident paceman added.
Chief selector Faruque Ahmed said that his selection panel will meet with the concerned people regarding Taskin's fitness very soon to get an exact picture.

"Obviously it would be fantastic for us if he is available for Test selection, but we should be careful and make sure that Bangladesh gets his service from for a long period of time," said Faruque.

"Initially I had a problem with tendon in my left knee and then the same problem occured in my right knee. I have been in a rehabilitation programme under the supervision of our development trainer Stuart Karppinen and physio Brett Harropp for a long time and I have a system to follow.

“For example, I have to take a day's rest after every one-day game, but that would not be the case in Tests," Taskin said, explaining the reason behind the delay of his Test debut.

"I have a dream but I don't want to be over excited and I am fortunate that my hero Mashrafe [Bin Mortaza] bhai is there to advice me. He knows better than anybody as to what an injury-prone pace bowler should do. My long term dream is to serve my country for at least 15 years, so I have to be careful as I has been living with injuries from a very early stage of my career," added the paceman.

With a Test line-up that's struggling to find effective pacers, it would be a blessing for the Tigers if they can receive a fit Taskin any time in the future, even if not next year as per the bowler's target.

Give Mushfiq More Time

"How will you judge a general's capabilities on the battlefield when you give him a gun without bullets?" Former Bangladesh captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain made the comment when asked about the criticism surrounding Mushfiqur Rahim's Test captaincy.

"You can only properly judge how good a captain is during fielding. Whether someone can put pressure on his opponents is a general criterion to judge whether someone is a good captain. The reality for the Bangladesh Test captain is that he has to fight with a gun that has no bullets," opined Ashraf.

"Do you think we have a quality bowling attack? Our bowling is ordinary and the funny thing is that we expect attacking mentality from a captain who has been given a team with eight batsmen. So, our problem lies with our thinking.

"Basically we are still a coach-dependant team, so first thing is we have to give our captain liberty. I would like to see Mushfiqur not making comments like 'it's a team decision'. Actually Mushfiqur is a helpless leader. And he doesn't have any magic wand by which he can change everything overnight," he went on, adding that the selectors should announce a 12-member team for a home series to avoid last moment controversy.

He said that there had been mistakes in Mushfiqur's captaincy but removing him is not a good solution. "Yes, he made mistakes but to change him is not a solution, rather the people concerned should talk to him about his flaws. He also needs to be open-minded to rectify his mistakes. It would be unwise to forget that he is our best batsman and most consistent performer, which is a primary criterion for a skipper," said Ashraf.

Another former captain Roquibul Hasan also echoed Ashraf's sentiments.

"At this moment we cannot think about any change to the Test captaincy. We have to continue with Mushy. Yes he might have made some mistakes and to some extent he lacks imagination as a captain, but he is still young and I believe he will make it up," hoped Roquibul.

"I don't know what's going on inside, but we need to make sure two things happen; the people concerned should talk to him regularly regarding his captaincy and he should be open-minded so that he accepts criticism and learns," he added.

Former cricketer-turned-commentator Athar Ali Khan believed that there was room for Mushfiqur to improve on his captaincy and he also was not in favour of bringing any changes. "Who is his contender? Nobody is. If you look at his success you will not at all be frustrated. However, Mushfiqur has to be careful and has to analyse his performance as a captain.

"I feel that there is no scope of bringing any changes in Test captaincy, rather we have to give our full effort to help Mushfiqur improve his performance as captain. And another thing is that we have to think how to mould a better leader for the near future," he said.