Hail the Midas touch on national cricket!

Bangladesh's jinx over the highly popular T-20 format cricket has disappeared in a flash as if in a comic strip to put it picturesquely. Read as you may a certain lighthearted preamble, the rest you will find, we can assure you, worth its weight in gold. 

The tide has turned for us the hard way with sweat and tears shed in the process through which we have attained the glory of reaching the finals of the Asia Cup 2016. Our T-20 records were abysmal; among nearly 20 outings against big teams that we have had we clinched only three victories, that too 'light years' apart. 

Literally, it has been a sweet revenge as far as our match against Pakistan went on Wednesday. We had lost to them in the 2012 Asia Cup by only two runs and went unceremoniously out of reckoning. Mahmudullah who was taking strike failed to score the crucial runs. He broke down in tears and so did his teammates for missing out on a tantalisingly close call. But this time around he scored the winning runs against the same contender Pakistan by hitting a boundary when only two runs would have sufficed. This led to a spectacular rejoicing among his teammates who fell upon each other on the ground in an embrace of rare camaraderie. 

When Sakib got out through a lethal Amir delivery, the run-ball ratio was 26 to 16, a task obviously made the steeper through his exit. Mashrafee changed the complexion of the game by scoring two fours consecutively. Quick running between the wickets followed; and as though fortune favouring the brave, two no balls from Pakistani pacer Sami gave the bonus of free hits. This helped wipe out the margin with Mahmudullah delivering the final jab.

From the 'babes and minnows' through being dubbed as an 'ordinary side' playable by Jef Boycott's mother as the English cricketer-commentator himself once claimed – the epithets that flew in the face of Bangladesh cricket team are consigned to oblivion today. 

We have come a very long way courtesy of Bangladesh Cricket Control Board, world class coaches, physiotherapists and mind-lifting psychiatrists. The modern tools of game analyses are being obtained. 

We have had two cricket icons – Dean Jones and Mathew Hayden making some very insightful comments about the growth trajectory of team Bangladesh. Dean was piqued by a question from a Bangladesh journalist whether he was 'surprised' to find Bangladesh reaching the finals having beat teams like Sri Lanka and Pakistan! He shot backed at the questioner quizzing, 'Well, you don't yourself have trust in your team, so …'. Then he introspected aloud, 'Why blame you, actually Bangladesh's players didn't believe in them.' A self-belief has developed in them changing their mindset. This is a precious virtue we must keep cultivating considering that cricket is very much a mind game.

Hayden, once the Australian aggressive batsman and now a commentator, hit the nail on its head saying that Bangladesh had always a good set of spinners; but now it is power packed by a terrific reinforcement of a good number of pacers. The catalysis is on and there should be no looking back given that in a country of 160 million people many batsmen, bowlers and fielders in different age groups are emerging out in the open. There are players in the pipeline, a structure is in place and inspirational wins create a groundswell of potential to be realised on the world's Ivy League cricket circuits. 

The abounding talents in Bangladesh need to be taken under the wings of care, nurture and training on a programmatic and sustainable basis. Sports can give us rare honours and strengthen patriotic bonding in the country and channel the youthful energy for constructive purposes. 

As for nurturing players of Mustafiz's caliber we need to have special arrangements. There is an example of nourishing an especially talented mid-field player Rivelino in Brazil after Pele in world football. He was a lanky 19-year-old lad when spotted and would be especially put on an intensive training programme to build up his muscles. He would be scoring tons of goals with lightning speed in time for Brazil. 

Finally, for our faceoff in the finals on March 06, we better take heed of what captain Mashrafee has urged the people to do: 'Put no pressure on our team with high expectations'. For that will only cramp them in their efforts to play their natural game. Free them up and they will deliver the goods. 

The writer is an Associate Editor, The Daily Star.