Editorial
On the heels of losing a winnable game
The lessons to carve the coveted niche
The way the Asian cup cricket finals championship eluded us, both by a wafer thin margin of loss as well as anti-climacterically has had a powerful impact on the people's mind. The sense of national involvement in the event was total, the longing for victory irrepressible and emotion and passion ran so high that these would take a long time living down.
Before the euphoria over Bangladesh cricket coming of age settles down we must begin to take up the task of appropriately strategizing the shaping of our cricketing destiny. The consistent cricket Tigers played aroused a patriotic fervour not previously experienced. Imagine how much our patriotism would be enhanced if our wins far outstrip defeats and we make winning into a habit. More so, if we can play competitive cricket at par with other world sides, even clinch the top honours on a regular basis.
Sports, especially cricket, has great potential to do us pride. The iron is hot, ready to be moulded in the desired shape. We have enough inputs to analyze our weaknesses that were exposed in the Asian cup finals. We began with a bang, losing way in the middle and the tail-enders despite occasional flashes didn't chip in when it was most needed. At one point, 18 balls were wasted without a run on the board. This only added to the lethal harm of 19 runs we had conceded to Pakistan in the last over. At another point, the equation was nine runs to six balls. Why on earth, when we had three wickets in hand we did not go for the kill?
Stuart Law, the new coach, has our full measure of compliments for having coached the Tigers into a newly spirited side. We await his wizardry to fill in the faultlines in our cricket team with earnest and professional cooperation from the BCB.
Let's make cricketing promotion into a movement all over the country involving schools, colleges and other educational institutions from the divisional through the districts to the upazila levels in the endeavour. Many private companies, banks and financial institutions and above all the whole industry and corporate sectors can sponsor cricketing championships at different levels, thereby contributing to a steady uplift of the game.
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