<i>Maturity is not their hallmark </i>
Photo: AFP
I am a cricket lover and I do not miss any game featuring my country. I get inspired when I see our boys playing a competitive game. There is loss and win in every game, so losing a match does not disappoint me so badly if it is a well contested one. I have been watching our cricket from the beginning of its attaining Test status, but I do not find any marked change or improvement in its quality. I am pretty sure that our boys are still in the same place where they started from. Here is my experience and comparison. Every day, I go for evening walk and watch some little boys aged between 6 to 8 playing cricket in small vacant places inside residential areas. Their wickets are three vertically placed bricks on each side and one or two wooden pieces as bat. If you stand and watch for a few minutes you will notice that one is throwing the ball to the striking end and the batsman (boy) is trying to hit every ball that comes from the other end, no matter how the ball is thrown.He tries to hit every ball that comes from the other end and very few touch his bat. I think our mature cricket boys are still immature like those kids. They try to hit every ball in every version of the game. They are lucky that most of the balls they try to hit do not touch their bat (in our Bangla commentator's language-- bat-e-balley shangjok hoi nai). Had there been shangjog, I believe all our batsmen would have been out within 8-10 overs, If luck favours and one such hit brings him a boundary, he tries the next to score a sixer to get applause from the spectators. I am pretty sure that our senior players are same as our kids. Even the foreign coaches have failed to teach them the difference between various versions of the game. My request to the coach: please teach our players how to block the ball first and then try to hit only the lose deliveries. I believe talent is there, but they must learn how to play the game correctly.
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