Shabab Chowdhury

A personal account highlights alleged irregularities and the limited remedy

This season of the Big Bash League has been a sobering exercise for three of Pakistan’s marquee cricketers. Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi arrived in Australia armed with heavyweight reputations and vast T20 expertise but what followed instead has been a humbling experience.

Twelve years -- that’s how long the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) went without an auction. And with unexpected surprises, unprecedented requests, and an overall underwhelming foreign-player pool, Sunday’s return to the auction table was, in many ways, reflective of the BPL’s fragile reputation.

Litton Das did something uncharacteristic of a Bangladesh captain after his side’s defeat in the first T20I against the West Indies in Chattogram on Monday.

For once, Mehidy Hasan Miraz dropped the clichés. There was no talk of “learning experiences” or “positives to take.” Instead, the Bangladesh ODI captain sounded visibly exasperated as he laid bare the team’s batting frailties after yet another collapse saw them slump to an 81-run defeat -- and a 2-0 series loss -- against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera finds himself at a defining crossroads, blessed with a momentous opportunity to shape the very future of the country’s football.

Even as he credited his side’s resilience, Westwood was quick to acknowledge Bangladesh’s surge.

Bangladesh batter Saif Hassan has done what many of his peers could not. He stepped away from the national fold, returned stronger, and finally proved himself ready for the demands of international cricket.

The samba beat may be Brazilian, but its rhythm this season is pulsing prominently from West London. So, Brazil fans hop in. There is a lot to get excited about this season.

He finished the five-match series in England with a chart-topping 23 wickets, the highest for any bowler.

The Tigers suffer from megalophobia -- they fear large targets.

"The message before the game was to make them understand that we are here to win the game," Maresca said.

In Peter Butler’s system, the Bangladesh goalie is also the first attacker.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul’s three-member Advisory Committee has attracted a lot of criticism as the nomination of its members has not been in line with the board’s constitution.

Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain needs to go back to the training ground and rethink how he wants to win games for the Tigers. Because what he has been dishing out in Bangladesh’s consecutive T20I tours of the UAE and Pakistan has been nothing short of ordinary.

As it seems, the dilemma for Bangladesh remains: is Shanto worth the tactical compromise?

Reporters present during the Bangladesh squad announcement in Mirpur yesterday, ahead of the upcoming T20I series against the UAE and Pakistan, may have felt a strong sense of deja vu.

Bangladesh are slated to play 16 T20Is against the UAE, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India ahead of the 2025 Asia Cup. An additional six matches against the West Indies and Ireland will follow. With a packed T20 calendar and Shanto’s declining performances in the format, his inclusion in the squad becomes increasingly difficult to justify.

Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal labelled Taijul Islam as "the most underrated bowler in the world at the moment" after the left-arm spinner claimed his 16th five-wicket haul on Day 1 of the second Test against Zimbabwe in Chattogram on Monday.

Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani stood tall and won the battle against the much-hyped pace unit of Bangladesh in the first Test in Sylhet.