‘The win matters, not the ton’

Chairman of Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) Women's Wing Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel confirmed that the 26 contracted players of the national team pool did not get paid for five months due to a 'technical reason'. 

Nigar Sultana Joty's troops clinched a 2-1 ODI series win over Pakistan after winning the third and final match in Mirpur on Friday after which it was reported that the players had not been getting their wages for five months.

Nadel explained the whole scenario pointing out that the board had not signed on the agreed contract list of players that needed to be sent to the accounts section for approval of the players' wages.

"It's because of a technical reason. We delivered the contract list (of players) to the board long before. Now, if the accounts department does not receive it from the board then they cannot approve the salaries. 

"Since everyone was busy playing in series, tournaments, and camps, no one felt the financial difficulty nor did anyone inform me about it. I got to know four to five days back," Nadel told The Daily Star on Monday.

According to Nadel, none of the players had notified him about this mishap and did not create a ruckus despite not being paid for a period of five months. 

Following the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa in February, the national team played series against Sri Lanka, India and them went to China to take part in the Asian Games before taking on Pakistan at home.  

"I told Papon bhai about it at a dinner party two days ago after the series win against Pakistan. I had discussions about it with the CEO before this. The players did not create an issue out of this. We have confirmed the list and they will receive their salaries in the next one or two days," he said.

The series win over Pakistan propelled the Tigresses to seventh on the ICC Women's Championship standings. The top six teams will qualify directly for the World Cup in 2025 in India.

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto lauded the team effort in Rawalpindi following a 10-wicket win -- the very first Test win in Pakistan – and signified the effort the players put during preparations.

The birthday boy lauded special performances such as Mushfiqur Rahim's 191, Mehedi Hasan Miraz's four-wicket haul and a three-for from Shakib Al Hasan.

"Really special moment for us and we are really happy because of the way everyone showed their character in these hot conditions. The way we practised over the last 15 days, did all the right things off the field are why we got the results.

"Obviously it was a team effort. Mushfiq bhai's innings was outstanding and it helped our team go forward but overall if you see the match and our batting and bowling and fielding, it was a team effort," Shanto said when focus was drawn to Mushfiqur's knock, Mehedi Hasan Miraz's spells and the pacers' grit.

What Shakib attained, though, was true to his cricketing spirits, fit for a legend. Accused in a murder case back home, criticisms of his performances getting more vocal, Shakib overcame his personal situation and pulled out a special performance.

Bangladesh's team selection had put faith on their spinners and the spinners finally came into play on Day 5. Shakib bowled 16 overs on the trot between morning and tea sessions: his variations, mind games all being employed to pacify Pakistan's resistance. He brought his flight and trajectory into play to bag both Saud Shakeel and Abdullah Shafique, arguably the backbone of the Pakistan batting.

A spin web in conjunction with Miraz saw the duo pick up seven wickets together, with Miraz bagging four for 21 and Shakib getting three for 44.

Shanto was asked about Shakib's mentality, which helps him turn things around. Shanto said it was what the team expected.

"When he [Shakib] takes the field to represent the country, from what I understand, he is very dedicated as a person. He does everything that's required to win. He pushes aside everything in his personal life to one side to think and focus on what he can do for the team, what he can do to help a junior cricketer and things like that," Shanto said.

"Doing these sorts of things in a unique way to be in a situation like that and still being able to bring out a performance like that and to give his inputs, especially in bowling, is outstanding. This is what we expect from him and hopefully in the next game we are expecting something even better," he added on Shakib.

Mushfiqur Rahim overtook Tamim Iqbal as Bangladesh's leading scorer in away Tests during the second session on Day 4 of the first Test against Pakistan at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

At Tea break, Mushfiqur was unbeaten on 173, taking his run tally in away Tests to 2363. He overtook Tamim's tally, who has 2329 runs in 59 innings, at an average of 40.15.

This is Mushfiqur's 68th innings in away Tests, more than any other player in Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper-batter also holds the record for most double hundreds in Tests for Bangladesh, three, and has a chance to add to that record in the final session on Day 4 of the ongoing Test.

Veteran Bangladesh batter Mushfiqur Rahim has reached career-best ICC Test batting ranking of 17th following his epic 191 against Pakistan in the first Test in Rawalpindi, which Bangladesh won by 10 wickets last week.

Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan, who slammed a big hundred and a half-century in the same Test, was rewarded with seven spots and achieving a new career-high rating by moving inside the top 10 at equal 10th.

Elsewhere, Harry Brook made good grounds among England batters. While veteran right-hander Joe Root maintained his place as the No.1 ranked Test batter in the world following England's success in the opening Test of their series against Sri Lanka in Manchester, teammate Brook has made a massive jump on the back of scores of 56 and 32 during that Old Trafford contest.

Brook rose three places to fourth overall, with the 25-year-old catapulting past Pakistan's Babar Azam, Australia's Steve Smith and India's Rohit Sharma courtesy of his strong recent form.

Babar dropped a whopping six places to fall from equal third to ninth following a rare failure in the first innings of Pakistan's Test against Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka duo Dinesh Chandimal (up four places to 23rd) and Kamindu Mendis (up eight rungs to 36th) and England newcomer Jamie Smith (up 22 to 42nd) also rose in the Test batter rankings.

India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin remained out in front of the rankings for Test bowlers, although fellow tweaker Prabath Jayasuriya moved up one place to ninth for Sri Lanka following his five wickets in Manchester against England.

England seamer Chris Woakes (up four rungs to 16th) and Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando (up 10 spots to 17th) also gained some ground, while there are new career-best ratings for Pakistan right-armer Naseem Shah (up four spots to 33rd) and England's Gus Atkinson (up four places to 42nd) following good returns from their recent appearances.

Woakes also improved one place to move up to eight on the list for Test all-rounders, with India spinner Ravindra Jadeja out in front of that category.