Abdullah Al Mehdi

India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin is 38. Yet he appears to be just easing into the process of refining his art, ball by ball. His delivery that beat Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque on Day 4 of the first Test in Chennai yesterday was so belligerent that it almost defied any explanation.

When he arrived in Chennai for the first Test against India yesterday, Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud’s Test career was three matches old. From an unknown entity to earning the appreciation of the proud cricket-loving fans of Chennai, Hasan has certainly created a mini ripple.

“Actually, Shakib’s [Al Hasan] batting, he is not in rhythm,” Bangladesh selector Hannan Sarkar said at the press conference in Mirpur after announcing a 16-member squad for the upcoming India Tests this month.

After the successful Pakistan tour, the programme's value has finally come to the limelight, especially in how players talked about the benefits of their preparation.

Bangladesh’s Test win at Mount Maunganui against the then World Test champions New Zealand in 2022 would certainly go down as a historic achievement in the Tigers’ history. But even Mominul Haque, the Tigers’ skipper back then, believes that winning a series away from home evokes a very different kind of feeling within the team than what a one-off win produces.

If going against the grain is a sought-after trait when achieving a backs-to-the-wall turnaround, Liton mythically overcame his performance issues in Rawalpindi.

Compared to his bowling, Miraz’s batting talents are often downplayed. But yesterday, with Bangladesh teetering on the brink on 26-6, the 26-year-old showed his class.

Bangladesh’s women’s side are slated to play the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, scheduled to begin on July 19, with an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup at home in October. The Tigresses, however, have a lot to work out in the meantime as they suffered a slump in recent times, with batting being their main concern in series losses to Australia and India at home. Head coach Hashan Tillakaratne talked about how the Tigresses can recover from this slump, and use their spin advantage and their target in the Asia Cup during an interview with The Daily Star’s Abdullah Al Mehdi. The excerpts of the interview are as follows:

BCB landed itself in another sticky situation after Mushtaq Ahmed, the national team’s spin bowling coach in the recent ICC T20 World Cup, joined England Under19s just days after board president Nazmul Hassan Papon said they were working on extending his contract.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) reappointed Naveed Nawaz -- the ICC Under-19 World Cup winning coach with Bangladesh -- last month for a second stint, hoping to develop new talents and form another successful batch.

As another discussion follows on performances, will BCB this time be relieved with having made the second stage, or will they form another probe committee?

Bangladesh's team are set to return to country after their participation on a global event that laid bare the deficiencies in the nation’s cricket cognition, team building, planning, and mental resilience.

In a game where the batting order had to be shuffled to make the chase in 12.1 overs, Bangladesh resorted to normalcy.

Bangladesh team management made a few strategic mistakes in their 50-run defeat to India in a crucial Super Eight clash of the T20 World Cup in Antigua on Saturday. It leaves question marks over the Tigers’ planning around the biggest matches on the biggest stages.

Bangladesh’s bowling plans have worked out magnificently, but the cue now begins for the batters to share the burden of responsibility.

Clear and concise, Bangladesh’s bowling unit has been decisive in their plans so far, which has put the team on course for a berth in the Super Eight.

Marginal calls, full tosses not being put away or the general inconsistency of Bangladesh top-order were all cause for concern in Bangladesh’s loss to South Africa in New York in a hard-fought contest on Monday. But the situation would not have gotten so desperate had Bangladesh’s key player Shakib Al Hasan left a mark on the game coming in at number four in what was another crucial T20 World Cup game for the Tigers.

When you are out of form, not much assistance from outside can help you along if you cannot figure out the nature of the problem. Lack of runs in their natural flow has not helped Bangladesh batters’ cause heading into the T20 World Cup in USA and West Indies. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto had spoken of knowing their abilities, but did they show enough faith in it themselves?

Ariful Alam Khaled came to Dhaka from Chattogram’s Sandwip, an island located in the north-east of the Bay of Bengal, to attend a coaching workshop in Mirpur on Friday. Cricket has seeped into Bangladesh’s consciousness so greatly that the sport managed to wash ashore to Sandwip.

The world will take notice as the 2024 T20 World Cup, set to be played in USA and the West Indies, gets to the red carpet in what would be the very first cricket World Cup in the USA.