Editorial
Our cricket's moment of glory
The achievement must be maintained
OUR cricket is showing some signs of coming of age. The series win away from home against West Indies which came at Grenada on Tuesday is certainly the biggest achievement of our cricket to date. It has been a fine showing by a team coming constantly under criticism for their poor performance.
Even our Test status was questioned many times as the team developed the habit of losing Test matches in three or four days without putting up the slightest resistance. It appeared at one stage that the team had been over-promoted and was a kind of burden to Test cricket. The leading experts on the game were losing faith in our ability. But now we have learned to play for full five days. Though the opposition was a second-string West Indies side, but, do not forget, they are still West Indians! And, the victories have been very convincing.
The team's performance has improved dramatically with the change in captaincy. It only shows that in a game like cricket, leadership counts a lot. And what is also very much noticeable from the 2-0 series win is that when you have two or three class players in the team, they can pull you out of deep trouble. Look at the way Shakib Al Hassan batted in the second innings when the West Indian bowlers had almost demolished our top order. Shakib , as he proved many times in the past, is a cool customer having both the technique and flamboyance of a great batsman. He rebuilt the innings and finished it with a grand sixer, being ably supported by Rokibul Hasan, another upcoming youngster. And as a spinner also Shakib has been doing exceedingly well. And we should not miss the point that he was the stand-in captain, but never came under any pressure. We believe this young man will play a key role in elevating our cricket to a truly respectable position in future.
For Bangladesh cricket, the victory was absolutely necessary as local fans, whose patience seemed to be unlimited, were greatly frustrated after our early exit from the last T-20 World Cup. Now the players and organisers should feel a lot more confident, but under no circumstances should this confidence give way to complacency which will spoil whatever we have achieved in West Indies.
It is time to work hard and prove that the series victory was not a fluke. We wish the cricketers and organisers all the best.
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