Can Tigers reach Asia Cup 2018 final?

20-year-old Mushfik Hasan's call-up to the national squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan was a bit surprising, but those who can recall his recent domestic performances will know the right-arm pacer has a knack for troubling batters of calibre. Pacers across the country were terrorising batters in the last National Cricket League but Mushfik's performances appeared to have a statement of intent about them.

He rattled Tamim Iqbal's stumps with a venomous delivery during one NCL game, bringing himself to the limelight. He would then bring down Dhaka Division almost single-handedly, picking up eight wickets in a single innings for 73 runs. His haul of 25 wickets across six games saw him in the top bracket of the wicket-takers' list that season.

Pace, bounce and a little bit of movement worked in his favour. He also bagged 16 wickets in four Bangladesh Cricket League matches last season, ending third in the wicket-takers' list.

Ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is not short of awareness and the Test captain, who will be missing the Afghanistan Test due to a finger injury, showed up to training on Thursday and attended the session from the beginning.

When young Mushfik got out of the dressing room, he approached Shakib first to shake his hand, having played alongside the all-rounder in the recent Dhaka Premier League for Mohammedan. The player informed during a press conference later that Shakib congratulated him and said 'carry on Mushfik'. He also talked about his DPL experience and Shakib's impact, having bagged 10 wickets this season for Mohammedan.

"I have learnt from watching him. On the field, he was instructing me about what to do. Whatever I was asking him, he answered according to the situation," he added.

He identified that his first-class performances had possibly landed him a place in the Test squad and maintained that his 'line, length, accuracy and pace' were his key mechanisms.

In the NCL, he left his captain Akbar Ali impressed with contributions to a trophy-winning side. Akbar had told The Daily Star after the win that the way Mushfik became the main attacking threat was a big boost to Rangpur Division.

Musfik also played the recent four-day series against West Indies A in Sylhet and felt he needed to maintain his process.

"I played the A team matches the same way I played NCL and BCL. If I get into the playing eleven for the national side, I will play the same way."

Mushfik, Ebadot Hossain and Taskin Ahmed bowled in the nets of the main Sher-e-Bangla ground yesterday and appeared to have great rapport with the rest of the pacers. It was the other faster bowlers inspiring the young gun. "I get inspired by Bangladesh's pacers. They are helping me out a lot. They work very hard and it's inspiring," he said, adding that he also follows South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada.

The youngster appears to be taking his cue from the rest and whether he makes the final eleven or not, being a part of the process will help him add to Bangladesh's pace strength. His coaches have told him 'do what is natural.' Pace and aggression is his natural instinct as Mushfik waits in the wings.

The number seven spot in Bangladesh's batting order has come into focus ahead of the World Cup, with several players vying for the important position. The experienced Mahmudullah Riyad is waiting in the wings alongside younger stars like Afif Hossain, Yasir Ali and Mosaddek Hossain.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan talked to the media yesterday and opined that all-round abilities would provide significant value at that position in the batting order.

Mosaddek in particular was not getting much limelight, but the team's current mentality in terms of combination may see him come into the picture in terms of the World Cup squad.

"If we play five bowlers, we have an opportunity to play an extra batter. Yasir is with the squad and Afif, Mahmudullah and Mosaddek, who are not currently with the squad, may enter at any time. If we play with five bowlers, who will we turn to in case one gets injured during a match? It's better if we find an all-rounder," the BCB president said.

Mahmudullah was dropped from the ODI side after the England series as the team management looked to gauge other players.

The top six in the batting order looks almost settled, but all-round capabilities may set Afif and Mosaddek apart. Mahmudullah's fielding has dropped a few levels, which is an area where Afif and Mosaddek offer more, but the 37-year-old's ability to contribute with the ball may offset that.

"In terms of batting, Afif and Mahmudullah both have a case. Yasir hasn't performed notably since returning from injury. In terms of bowling, Afif and Mosaddek and Mahmudullah will have an edge. On the field, Afif is above them while Mosaddek can be a better prospect on the field than Riyad," the board president opined.

Bangladesh Cricket Board's chairman of cricket operations Akram Khan informs that the salary of the national team cricketers is set to increase this April.

BCB will conduct a board meeting on Wednesday, April 18 and the cricket committee will propose an increase in players' salary in that board meeting.

"Last time we increased the salary by 100 percent, slowly we will increase it more," Akram reiterated.

Last year in April, players like Shakib Al Hasan, who are in 'A plus' grade had their salaries increase from 2.5 lakh TK to 4 lakh.

The salary is set to increase for all grades, from A plus to grade D. BCB has been looking to bring down the number of players with central contract, however Akram did not confirm which players are going to miss out on central contract which will be effective from January of this year even as the contract is being drawn in April.

"We haven't finalized our proposal yet. We will decide on it tomorrow."

Akram however did confirm that there will be a decrease in the number of players who will have a central contract.

"It's true that there will be decrease in number of players on central contract once the new contract is drawn up. Lots of things are being considered. Less number of players will be better.

Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud revealed that the Tigers were looking to finish the game by the end of Day 4 of the second Test against Pakistan at the Rawalpindi Stadium on Monday. 

The visitors raced off to 42 for no loss in seven overs while chasing Pakistan's 185-run target, courtesy of a few wristy blows from opener Zakir Hasan, before proceedings were called off due to bad light and subsequent rain. 

Zakir smashed two fours and as many sixes, while Shadman remained vigilant for his nine runs before the interruption took away an entire session of play.

"If it had not rained, we would have tried to finish the game today or within the first session tomorrow," Hasan told reporters after the day's play. 

Earlier, Hasan, playing his third Test, picked up a maiden five-wicket haul which helped to bundle out Pakistan for 172. Hasan became the first Bangladesh pacer to take a fifer against Pakistan and his pace partner Nahid Rana also registered his best figures (4-44). Taskin Ahmed picked up the other wicket as the pacers accounted for all 10 wickets in an innings for the first time in Bangladesh's Test history. 

"Whenever a fast bowler is given the ball, there is only one plan which is how he can bowl wicket-taking deliveries. Taskin [Ahmed] started it and Rana [Nahid] came on. He was superb, he was excellent. The momentum perhaps shifted towards us. Then I came to bowl and I maintained my process and got my wickets.

"It's very joyful and a matter of pride to get five wickets for your country and team. Playing a Test match and winning it and now getting the chance to win another one makes me very happy."

The banning of the bowling actions of two Bangladeshi players of the national team have not only incensed millions of Bangladeshi cricket fans but even the skipper of the Bangladesh national cricket team, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. As an armchair 'cricket enthusiast', I would refrain from concentrating on the technicality of the rules involved here. However, if the snippets on social media of Mr. Mustafizur Rahman, a lawyer acting on behalf of the Bangladeshi Cricket Board (BCB), and the words of Bangladeshi skippers are taken, it would clearly seem fans' emotions cannot be dismissed as overreactions. The outrage of this event has to be assessed in a much broader context. 

While ICC's actions in the last couple of years on many issues have defied fairness and have often favoured powerful cricketing nations at the expense of the less powerful ones, we need to understand that it is clearly a problem of the ineptitude of administrators of ICC, not of the Indian cricketing fans. Indeed, the ICC is a good example of the problems which follow when money talks and talks very loudly. In the not so distant past, the structure of the ICC had been fundamentally altered to give three Cricket Boards (Australia, England, and India) special privileges on no other reason but solely the revenue generated from these countries which did not only receive scathing criticism from many administrators, former players, and fans from outside the privileged three, but also many fair-minded ones from within. Indeed, the distinction between the 'three' and the rest has made many cricket fans feel that some of the things happening within the cricketing administration are 'not just cricket'. And naturally on-field matters which would have been brushed aside or lamented as human errors, invisible (often phantom) hands have been looked for. The farce that a man deemed to be ineligible by the Indian Supreme Court to govern his own country's cricketing administration continued to administer the ICC, did not help its image at all.

Although it would be simplistic and unfair to brand ICC as Indian Cricket Council as some overzealous cricket fans have done in frustration, it may be fair to brand ICC as the 'International Conservative Council' or 'International Conundrum Council'. ICC's action would often speak for such branding. Only recently, the ICC's schedule for the warm-up matches for the ongoing World Twenty 20, 2016 was so ridiculously arranged that Bangladesh's matches were arranged even before the final of the Asia Cup 2016 in which Bangladesh happened to be the runners-up. Thus, the ICC not so clandestinely revealed that it did not believe that Bangladesh could reach the final of the Asia Cup. It is the beauty of the game that the so-called minnows (not to imply that Bangladesh would fit this tag) on their day can surprise even the mightiest and it is pathetic that those who do not appreciate or believe in this simple fact are entrusted to run the game globally. When many other games (the example of football would be pertinent) have expanded the participation of teams in global events, the ICC has made sure that newer entrants will be eliminated as soon as possible. The appeals of cricketing legends such as Sachin Tendulkar on this issue have fallen on deaf ears.     

The ICC should remember that money is indispensable but hankering for money and money only, at the expense of fair treatment for all cricketing nations, may disillusion many fans and kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. The chronic mismanagement of ICC has given millions of fans more than enough ammunition to be cynical about the fairness of its actions. Despite all its problems with corruption, football, a sport followed almost in all countries of the earth, has probably never been viewed by fans with so much cynicism on fairness in disciplinary matters.

For Bangladeshi fans, it is doubly dismaying that the BCB is not too well known for competent professional management (you would not have to go further than the ticketing circus bordering on scandals before important international matches held in Mirpur Stadium). In a city of hundreds of thousands of cricket lovers, the national cricket stadium has a capacity of only around 27,000 and often in many important international matches, a very high percentage of the tickets are unavailable for cricketing fans at large; this could in itself be testament to the lack of care that the BCB has for the cricket lovers of this country. 

It is good that BCB is, so far, standing by the skipper and other players of the national team (albeit probably after being influenced by a strong stand by the skipper and other players of the team as would appear from the unequivocal words of the skipper). Of course, the administrators cannot behave the way fans can. But they should take every possible action to avenge the feeling of the players within the limits of the rules. While at this stage it may be a very long shot, assuming that the BCB does not get a fair response from the ICC once the ICC's internal mechanism is exhausted, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland should not be dismissed right away. The route to CAS, like all other arbitral bodies, is contingent on the agreement between the disputing parties (here the ICC and BCB) and can be time consuming. However, administrators have to remember that cricket is not only a game to Bangladeshi fans but also a national passion and pride. 

Bangladesh need not try to flex its muscle (assuming it has any) as has been done in the SCG saga in 2008 (the New Year Test/ 2nd Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy), but no option available within the cricketing diplomacy and rules should be left unused. Again, it is also a welcome gesture that the BCB has decided to scrutinise the bowling actions more rigorously in domestic matches. After all, in this time of despondency and suspicion, we should not detract from the fact that even our players and administrators are not very sanguine about the legality of the bowling actions of Arafat Sunny. If we had been able to install a more rigorous domestic regime, this kind of a jarring situation would not have arisen in a global event. All said and done, it is still better late than never. 

Writer is an Associate Professor at School of Law, BRAC University