And then there were two…
When Mushfiqur Rahim hit the winning boundary to upset India in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbeans, people had already gotten a glimpse of the talents who would lead Bangladesh cricket in the coming years.
It was the maiden World Cup campaign for three future Bangladesh stalwarts -- Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur, and Tamim Iqbal. Chaos and off-the-field issues, as it so often happens in Bangladesh cricket prior to major events, have ended Tamim's World Cup before it even began. But the 2023 edition in India is set to be a major occasion for the two other stalwarts Shakib and Mushfiqur.
In a testament to their quality and longevity in international cricket, both Shakib and Mushfiqur are set to achieve a unique feat when Bangladesh take the field in their 2023 World Cup opener against Afghanistan on October 7 in Dharamsala -- the duo are the only remnants from that 2007 World Cup to still be representing their country in this mega event.
16 years on, the game itself has evolved, and it is only obvious that many of its stalwarts would be part of that undertaking.
For instance, Rahul Dravid, the Indian skipper who had received a reality check from Shakib and Co more than a decade ago, will still be a part of the Indian contingent this time around but only in the dugout as their head coach.
Sourav Ganguly, India's opener back then, has already opened and closed his chapter as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. He served as the BCCI chief from 2019 to 2022.
Two other cricketers who were stunned by the Tigers in that tournament were South Africa's Ashwell Prince and Charl Langeveldt. Not only have they already bid adieu to their careers as cricketers but have also proceeded in the most common post-cricket trajectory among cricketers and taken up coaching. Both had been part of the Bangladesh contingent for a while -- Prince served as the Tigers' batting coach from 2021 to 2022 while Langeveldt was the overseer of the pace bowling unit for about five months in 2019.
Pakistan skipper back then, Inzamam-ul-Haq, played his final ODI in that very tournament and is now in his second term as the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) chief selector. However, Inzamam's bloodline -- his nephew Imam-ul-Haq -- will be wielding the willow in India as Pakistan's first-choice opener.
Meanwhile, over at the Netherlands team, a rare father-son connection is set to take place in the World Cup in India.
When Tim de Leede donned the all-orange in 2007, his son and now a mainstay of the Dutch team, Bas de Leede was just a seven-year-old. The World Cup in India is set to be Bas' first chance to follow in his father's footsteps and make him proud.
From exciting teens to the country's ambassadors, both Shakib and Mushfiqur have also gone through major transformations over the past 16 years. Having forayed into the World Cup by punching above their weight, Shakib and Mushfiqur will hope to end on a high as well.