Abdullah Al Mehdi

That Bangladesh cricket is resigned to talking about individuals over team building and governing ideas of their cricket speaks to the greater culture now omnipresent over the course of a decade or so but is more prominent across the last few years.

There was no display of effort, perseverance or mental grind befitting of Test cricket by the Tigers in their defeat to Sri Lanka in the second Test in Kandy yesterday, and the sphere of their failures has a lot more to it than the margin of defeat inflicted by the hosts.

The Bangladesh spinners have time and again failed to make any real impact in matches, especially in the longest format, when the pitches are not conducive to spin. With no real variations to keep batsmen guessing, spinners regurgiate the 'tagline' of maintaining line and length, but to what extent it works in their favour, remains a big question.

The most important facet in all of Bangladesh’s major victories in international cricket is that the whole team contributed, no matter the size.

Dark clouds are hovering above Bangladesh Cricket for the past few days following the whitewash inflicted on the Tigers by the West Indies.

Looking on from the other side of the West Indies heist in the final day of the Chattogram Test, it would be easy to question the quality or capabilities of Bangladesh’s Test side.

The year 2020 in the sporting calendar had been a remarkable one due to the challenges facing sporting events all over the world.

Growing up, Diego Maradona seemed like a ghost from the past for someone who had little experience of watching live football during the 90s.

Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo recently downplayed performance issues during the BCB President’s Cup, citing the lack of cricket in

AKM Nowsheruzzaman, a beacon in the country’s football history, passed away on Monday night following complications from Covid-19, but he will forever remain in the hearts of those who were lucky enough to see his enthralling football.

It has been a bit too quiet at Real Madrid for the past few weeks. Even as they thrashed Getafe 6-0 in their only preseason game this season,

There are those whose love knows no bounds and their devotion and fidelity to their passion attracts a deep reservoir of respect,

That Bangladesh’s Test future ultimately rests on how they can develop a pace attack that can be relied upon, cannot be stressed enough.

“I hope some good comes of this,” Barcelona defender Gerard Pique had said after his team’s 8-2 mauling against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals. That it was not just another 3-1 or 4-2 defeat was perhaps something Pique hoped Barcelona could learn from. He summed it up with ‘we’ve hit rock bottom’, which implies that there really is no way left to go but up.

“There has been criticism of him not training here and going off to the IPL and things like that, but Shakib [Al Hasan] does his talking on the field.

“I feel the situation will improve little by little but if you think that things should resume when situation becomes very good, by that time cricketers won’t be able to survive,” Shamsur Rahman Shuvo said while talking to The Daily Star when asked about the difficulty that the pandemic has brought.

“Don’t know when we will be able to play Test match again,” star batsman Mushfiqur Rahim tweeted alongside a picture of the second Test between England and the West Indies on Monday night.

When Shannon Gabriel walked off the field after his five-for on the fifth and final day of the Southampton Test, helping bowl England out for 313 for a chase of 200 for the Windies, there was no cheering crowd to give him an apt send-off back to the dressing room.

Words have been exchanged between relevant boards, at least through the media, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) media director saying yesterday that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s announcement of the cancellation of the Asia Cup, holds no weight.

The eyes of the cricketing world will be focused on Southampton today when England take on the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in what will be the first international cricket series since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic more than three months ago.