I never gave up hope: Mosharraf

He is still two big steps away from the last chapter, as he says. 34-year old left-arm spinner and useful late order batsman Mosharraf Hossain was called up for Bangladesh's 20-member ODI Pool and was hopeful that the fortune will favour him in making the 15-member final squad and then into the playing eleven.

In the domestic circuit he is considered a utility cricketer and he came to the national side with a lot of promise in 2008 but till date has played only three ODIs, which tells the story of a career that did not move in the right direction – one hindered by an ICL stint and the BPL match-fixing controversy.

How did he keep his hope alive?   

“I never gave up hope. I was discouraged and frustrated, but I never gave up hope. I never guaranteed that I would make it, but I always kept striving for it.

“It's very hard to keep that desire alive because you're completely out of the team picture. I think it's going to be an example for the young stars that nothing's over unless you give up. I kept my hopes alive and now it's paying off,” said the experienced cricketer.

“I'm considering this a new beginning. Whatever happened before, that chapter is closed. If you consider my career in three parts, then the first is the early stage -- when I was young -- then there is the middle stage and then it's the final chapter. So I'm considering this my final chapter, from where I can give my career a proper ending,” he continued.

But it was a surprise for him when he was called up to the national side from the High Performance squad. The recommendation from former Indian spinner Venkatapathy Raju played a role behind the revival.

“Definitely it came as a surprise. I heard that he (Venkatapathy Raju) gave positive feedback about me. When the [spin-bowling] camp was going on he gave me a lot of tips, shared his experience and all that has helped me. I'm following his advice. He said that compared to the others, I have more variations in my bowling arsenal because there is bounce. Everyone bowls in a very orthodox way but mine is quite unorthodox and that's why I have more variations. A coach of his stature saying that and giving me such good feedback helped my confidence a lot,” said Mosharraf, who studied history at Dhaka University and got a gold medal and blue.

He regrets not being able to capitalise on his potential in international cricket, where some errors in judgement also played a part, but he has been able to draw enough satisfaction from domestic cricket in his long career.

“I definitely feel regretful as I didn't play many internationals, but I have played a lot of top-level cricket such as the BPL. And I have some very special performances in the domestic league which most of the others don't have. I have a good record even in four-day matches in the National Cricket League, Bangladesh Cricket League. So that makes me wonder that if I had stayed in the national team during that time maybe I could have had a different career,” said Mosharraf.

Having played a lot of domestic cricket, Mosharraf feels that there are still some improvements to be made to reach the desired standard, but he can now see a gulf of difference in domestic cricket from when he first started playing.

“I was new in the NCL then. Our team was batting and Halim Bhai (Halim Shah) still hadn't reached the field. Then everyone started saying 'call Halim quickly, he has to go and bat'. So then we called him and he rushed to the field. After that he put on his kit and his hat and got ready. This was at the Abahani field a long time ago.

“He was bowled off the first ball when he finally arrived and then he came back to the pavilion and went to sleep. He woke up at five in the evening and he probably had no idea that he came from home, batted and got out. Now I see players calculating till the last ball. We can take it to the next level and it is not far off. The immediate need is to fix a calendar,” recounted Mosharraf.

The improvement in the national team has been even more marked. “In 2013 I was in the squad but didn't play a match, so my last match was eight years ago and since then Bangladesh cricket has reached new heights.”

And Mosharraf, approaching his last chapter, wants to be a part of it.