Aman
Test Captain
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2013
- Runs
- 47,061
MMHS has enlightened many members with his vast knowledge of the game over his 4 years on PakPassion. Whether it be from his personal experiences or his objective thoughts of all things cricket, MMHS has always had an opinion which others have been interested in reading.
PakPassion: What does MMHS stand for?
MMHS: For choosing a login name for PakPassion, I picked this one – the first 3 are my initials (1st M is Mohammed, H stands for Hossain), S is the initial of my pet name (we Bengali's have often 3 pet names – 1 standard, 1 from mom and 1 from ..., this S one is the standard one).
PakPassion: Have you played cricket at any level or with any big names?
MMHS: My early school days were in Australia & UK, where I learned the game as a kid. Compared to sub-continent, sports infrastructure and facilities in western schools are way better, so when I returned to Bangladesh, as a boy, I was good enough to match the skills of players 6-7 years senior to me. I played lots of junior level cricket during few years stay in Bangladesh and I can tell that I was damn good in Bangladesh/youth standard, until I got seriously injured (torn ligament). Besides, my school grade sheet (and my parent’s job/social profile) wasn’t suitable to build a career in sports and leave studies in teens. Those were the days when one couldn’t have even dream't that in Bangladesh, you can drive a BMW X6 or a Porsche Cayenne from playing cricket.
I left cricket for few years to complete schools and when tried to make a comeback, my ego found myself to be too ordinary – it stopped there. But I kept myself involved as a keen follower, as a critic, as an organizer and certified umpire (not now, I didn’t renew it after 2005). My family had few people involved in club cricket/sports back in 90's – on voluntary level, I did contribute in building teams, hiring/scouting players; particularly for small tournaments here and there (there were many such in 90's). Couple of my “tu tuker” friends were in that 1999 WC team of Bangladesh which beat Pakistan and if destiny wished someone could have been part of that team – it wasn’t impossible looking 10 years back from that day.
PakPassion: Do you follow any other sport?
MMHS: I come from sports mad family – cricket, football, volleyball, basketball, Olympics, tennis, badminton, snooker and even hockey, you name it - my family, uncles and cousins and I follow it, watch the big events and gossip around. Apart from common games (in sub-continent perspectives) I do follow golf, snooker and I am a big fan of NBA (but no clue in other 3 North American Leagues/games) and I am a lifelong die-hard fan of Reds (Though this idiot BRogers is messing things at Anfield now days).
Because of spending few years in Australian and UK schools, my upbringing was in sports culture, which developed me into a very good athlete in schools – I think, I represented school teams for 7 or 8 games and sports in few years of schooling in Bangladesh. Between cricket and football, it’s tough to choose, but in recent days I am more to in cricket for Team Green and Red (and because we stink in football). Also, cricket is a unique game – it’s a team game where players compete individually against each other’s – India/Pakistan can crush Bangladesh, but still Sakib can keep his head high as he represents a poor unit, but he is not poor. Whatever might be the outcome, but when Imran runs to bowl at Viv – it’s a contest between two outstanding individuals, rest is secondary. That’s unique for a team sports.
PakPassion: Do you ever plan on writing a book/blog or articles on cricket?
MMHS: I still dream of becoming a sports columnist in my retirement days, but for the time being I am quite happy in what I am doing – working as a professional and gossiping in sports blogs. I could have written in magazines or blogs, even for payment, but that comes with a sacrifice – here in PP, I write what I believe and what I can back; writing for someone actually ties your hand – you have to be politically correct, have to write for the market (things that ‘ll be sold better), which I don’t think I ‘ll enjoy. Even now days’ person like David Gower is listing players targeting a 1.3bn market, who is going to buy my thought? Besides, writing professionally has it’s own hazard – grammar, spelling, aesthetics, proof reading; I am fine with PP style English.
PakPassion: What are your earliest memories of cricket?
MMHS: I think, I watched 1985 B&H WSC final with my family, but not much memory. Earliest that I can recall was probably Javed hitting Sharma for a six. That match was a delayed telecast in Bangladesh and that time I was in Dhaka.
PakPassion: Who is your favorite team besides Bangladesh?
MMHS: I became a fan of West Indies and the Pakistan team, more so for Imran and Viv rather than any sort of preference towards a country, though when I started to understand the game, Viv was way behind his best but in 80's BTV used to show B&H WSC Cup matches, Australian Test matches and old archives of B&H, which brought me closer to the WI team. I supported India whenever they faced teams outside Asia (I'm a big fan of Kapil), until their cricket media (and board) became too strong - started to get under everyone's skin and brainwash cricket.
WI has declined big time while Pakistan has replaced India as the most boring team – in last 15 years (after Wasim’s Captaincy) Pakistan has played to hide their top batsmen at 4, 5, 6 & 7; has used their fast bowlers to take the shine of new ball so that spinners can come into play, while India under Ganguly & MS (Dhoni) has played expressive cricket, particularly in ODI – put aggressive batsmen in 1, 2, 3; attacked with the new ball and fielded to keep the pressure on and take wickets rather than allowing the game to drift with 4/5 singles every over. I see lots of “India 70s and 80s” in this current Pakistan side – Shastri, Gavasker, Vengsarkar, Prabhakar, Gaekwad , Manjrekar playing in top 4 while Kapil, Azhar, Patil, Amarnath and even Tendulkar wasted at 5, 6, 7 or even 8 – using Ghavri, Binny, Madan to help Kapil taking the shine off, bring spinners with 5 men on line, bat to ensure respectable defeat (and remain not out to improve their averages).
It’s tough to be excited with a Pakistan side which opted for Rao Iftikhar or Rana Naved over Sami to take the new ball or Hafeez, Azhar, Shehzad, Taufeeq to open in ODI. I don’t think in last 15 years, I had much difference in support between India-Pakistan; probably wanted Ganguly/MS’s team to win over pathetic and boring captains like Waqar, Inzi, Misbah or Afridi.
PakPassion: Who is your favorite cricketer?
MMHS: As said, I grew up watching Imran and Viv – these two are my all-time favorite cricketers, closely followed by Kapil, Hadlee, Javed, Marshall and Hooper. After them, not in order, but I liked Azhar, Ganguly, Saeed, Inzi, Mark Waugh, Kumble and a few others; but probably the 4 players I passionately watched almost by ball was 2 W's, Lara and Warne. I rate Murali and Tend’kar to the highest level, but just never found them exciting – they are the metronomes who will hunt you by duration. Also, I like players playing for team, which actually doesn’t favor the great Indian. More currently, I like Virat, MS, Sanga and KP as batsmen (Rate AB highest, but don’t like the way South Africa plays their cricket) while Jimmy and Ajmal as bowler, outside of Bangladeshi players.
PakPassion:Why PakPassion? What brought you here and what makes you follow Pakistan cricket so passionately?
MMHS: Ever since Cricinfo and ESPNStar was hacked by the Indian media, I felt Pakistan almost out of cricket literature or information – no hype, no news, no analysis, no article. Just like outside India, cricket doesn’t exist in Asia. To read about Pakistan cricket or new players I looked for news links, blogs and sometimes in 2007/08 (or may be earlier) found PakPassion. For the first 4 to 5 years, I was a reader only and that time I used to read few other cricket blogs as well and the distinction was clearly evident. Once I decided to share my thoughts and opened my ID, the day after MS lifted the Cup it’s been 4+ years and I'm still going strong.
Following Pakistan Cricket has a lot of history attached – my mom spent few years in Lahore and Pindi (I think in 60's that was Pakistan's capital and my grandfather was a Govt. servant then). My mom was a keen cricket follower and she was a BIG fan of Imran – she always wanted me to be a cricketer, but only if can be like another (Sub-continent moms are emotional you know, no matter how much educated they are). Imran came with Omer Quarishi team in 1986 and mom went to stadium with me. That was first association with Pakistan Cricket, later when I started understanding cricket a bit, Imran’s Pakistan won the Series in India (blasted in ODI), won Neheru Cup, won WC and many tournaments in the UAE.
To be honest, that Pakistan team of 90's is one of the most under-achievers in history, probably in many other sports considered. It was full of stunning individuals and he who loves/follows/analyze the game from passion (and without any own country bias) simply can’t avoid being passionate by the Team PAK of 90's. I have lots of Indian friends - on face they ‘ll argue/taunt, but back of their mind I found each and everyone to be a great admirer (jealous) of the Pakistan team of 90s - that probably explains my case best. Besides, many PAK stars used to play club cricket in BD throughout 90s.
I used to scout players for clubs in 90's and there were hundreds of Pakistani cricketers travelling to Bangladesh as freelance club cricketers – I was stunned with the level of natural skill those unknown or hardly known Pakistan cricketers – unfit, little or no education, hardly any common sense, no systematic training or grooming, often no coaching or school, but boy, they could smash the leather ball hard and throw it fast & tricky. I had few contacts, but not much in last 15 years – got busy with higher studies and jobs in different countries, family life, but there is always time for first love.
PakPassion:What do you think needs to be done to improve the standard of domestic cricketers in India and Pakistan?
MMHS: This is one area I back my-self to be a professional. I can’t tell anything regarding my Bangladesh career, but for almost a decade I was involved in business strategy and expansion, as well as countrywide operation.
I think, a domestic system should deliver in 4 aspects –
- A fair system that filters the best talents
- An advanced system that develops players in terms of skills (fitness is part of skill), intellectual and mental aspects (competitive and modern, as well as aware of the rules & regulations) it provides up to date and diverse training facilities (In cricket, different type of wicket is a training facility)
- A system that keeps the mass market interested (in terms of the game itself and the next generation player pool), which is domestic competition, Home & away culture
- A system which provides financial security so that there is a professional class, who can survive on the game (that leads next generation interested).
Public interest and teams’ success are extremely correlated, which is a function of these 4 aspects.
Looking at the Pakistan domestic system, I actually don’t see any of these. I have written lot on that I won't reiterate it here. However, I see things moving positively, which is a good sign and I see few things gradually coming in the Pakistan system, which I had been writing on several times. To be honest, PCB has done wonders in Pakistan system in last 2 decades or so – central contracts, academies, modern training facility, certified coaches. Unfortunately, the mental or competitive aspects are not developing as there isn't much of a County window now and the system is too much individual dominant still.
I actually see lots of those 4 aspects covered in Indian domestic system. I am sure BCCI has enough expertise to run the game if they are willing and right men are behind (though this Shukla guy is an idiot – it feels sick that this joker is going to replace Dalmiah – I knew a Rajiv Shukla in 90's, who reminded me the jokers of Hindi movie, whenever opened mouth in DD).
Regarding the Indian system (or even Pakistani), I don’t think reducing the number of teams is a good idea and only way to improve. India has it’s unique problem – it’s not easy to filter top 35 players from 1.3bn people, of whom number of registered cricketers is probably more than the population of NZ. I trust Indian selectors and back room staffs (junior level coaches, grounds men, trainers, analysts..) to be much better than their Pakistani counterparts (because Pakistan never tried to develop that – it’s all about play hard/tape ball cricket here and there in clubs, until you are noticed by some Imran, Javed, Akram and subsequently been drafted by a County side) in terms of competences and probably fairness as well. Besides, the Indian system at least allows officials, selectors to do their jobs somewhat professionally.
I wouldn't change anything in Indian domestic cricket setup, I'd only add one more layer. For any system, even 30 teams in top tier are too many, but for a country of that size, even 100 teams are not much - in India or Pakistan, we can’t put 8 teams with 150 players only, out of few millions. What I'd do is unfortunately, what BCCI has closed this year – I'd keep Ranji Trophy exactly the way it is, but I would have made Dulip Trophy stronger. 5 Zones are fine - pick a 2 month window – 5 teams playing 8 home and away FC matches with top 60 Indian players from last Ranji season and couple of foreigners in each team and make sure that Indian national players participate. By foreigners, I mean the Styen, AB, Smith, Anderson, Johnson or Wahab class.
In short, I am asking BCCI to replicate something in small scale what TCCB used to run in 70's & 80's with 17 teams and 100+ world’s best cricketers. BCCI has the money, just needs the initiative - rest will be taken care of itself and it will benefit Cricket as a whole – it’s a bad taste for me to feel that Pollard's, Afridi's, Maxwell's and Raina's are the news makers these days, when once the Imran's, Viv's, Lillee's, Kapils and Hadlee's were the poster boys. In this model the happiest person will be BCCI Chairman of Selectors – his first cut of slashing 1,000 to 50 is done by 5 regional selectors.
PakPassion: What things you would like to change about yourself and PakPassion?
MMHS: I am quite happy with myself – probably have achieved (and enjoyed) more than what I would have expected 20 years back. Not much to change for me as long as I leave this world as a good father, husband and Muslim. The life is too small for constant changes – rather it’s wise to enjoy what is there. You never know if the change will bring good or bad.
For PakPassion, I think it’s a wonderful cricket blog, a place which probably is far better than some of the paid sources if one wants to learn the game (I actually never visited outside the cricket section). I don’t want to change much in PakPassion, maybe some posters themselves should change their approach when it comes to personal liking's or disliking and arguments. A bit of leg pulling is enjoyable, but there is a thick line between intellectual pinch and abuse. It’s a fantastic entertainment, scratched often by few individuals, which should be stopped.
One thing I would like to introduce is the proper method of POTW – at present, I feel, it’s a monopoly of few individuals, which I wish to be changed. Maybe we can introduce a poll where top 10-12 posts of last week is selected for posters to vote on that.
As if, we are too much focused on established stars at PP, but even in 1988, as a kid I knew there is another kid named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and there is an artist named Brian Charles Lara – PakPassion has a lot to do in this regard.
Also, I don’t like banning a poster permanently – he‘ll open a new account (even through a new device if IP blocking is used) and the person behind doesn’t change. I would have blocked the post and made it public, keeping the poster’s name and reason visible - in extreme cases, would have made the poster banned for few days or restricted his posts in some capacity, again making it public.
PakPassion: You're a big fan of Fazal Mahmood, do you have any video footage of him?
MMHS: No, I don’t have any, in fact I have never seen him in archives. Fazal played his last Test in 1962-63. If I can recall correctly, BTV and PTV started operation from 1964 (25 December 1964, I believe; DD is not much earlier or later – therefore, I am not sure if we have any recording of Fazal in Asian matches; maybe his spells in Oval 1954 might have some records, which should be available in thee BBC or MCC achieves. PakPassion’s British based posters can give a try – it’s worth trying, trust me. For that, on a matting wicket we are talking about a hybrid of McGrath and Steyn, maybe a bit slower, but three times tenacious - who once bowled 50+ overs at stress, still mean, accurate and threatening.
PakPassion: Who in your opinion is the best cricketer to have started his Bangladesh career before 2005? What's the reason behind major transformation of Bangladesh cricket?
MMHS: It’s difficult to single out one – Raqibul Hasan almost made the Pakistan team (he was destined for a longer career with Pakistan) in a match on 1st March 1971, when he was officially 17. He retired from cricket and went to administration before I could understand cricket. Gazi Ashraf had a couple of outstanding seasons in late 80's, when he was the top scorer in Dhaka League, at that time when over 30 Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan FC cricketers used to play in that league. Golam Nowsher would have definitely made the Indian team for peak 4-5 years of his career in 80's for his left arm fast medium. Syed Ashraful (ACC’s former CEO) played few years in League Cricket in UK during his studies, but he went into a corporate and administrative career.
Athar, Aminul, Minhaz, Rafique and Jahangir Shah played club cricket in UK & Australia and probably were among the few international quality players in 80's & 90's from Bangladesh, while Khaled Mashud in 90's, on merit could have kept for few other Test sides. Rafique was probably the best Test cricketer from Bangladesh till to date (before this current lot). However, the standard of our cricket was at such low even few years before 2005, that it’s difficult to compare players of different decade to mark the best – probably it will be between Aminul, Rafique and Rakibul. My vote is for Rafique – the lone fighter for a club level team given Test status.
I am the first person here to admit that, though I see a transformation in the Bangladesh team, I don't think it's an earth shattering one. In a team sports, dominated by individuals, if all of 8 or 9 average players with couple of world class talent hits their peak at same time, they can do miracles in their favorable conditions – something we saw in March 1996, at a much bigger stage. Having said that, compared to 1999, we have developed light years to be honest. I see lots of posts regarding Bangladesh's slow progress in last 15 years – a bit silly, because these people have no idea what India and NZ went through in first 35-38 years and compared it to 1999, what monumental task BCB (and Bangladesh as a whole) has done in last 15 years in cricket. There's still a long way to go, but at least we're on the track of a long trail, with the destination in front.
I always believe that, talent is a fake word in sports – if any game is followed passionately by mass, there will be lots of teens with natural ability, which we mistakenly identify as talent. Every game has a degree of difficulty – it’s against time, distance, power or counter skills that you overcome by instincts, hand/leg-eye coordination, intelligence and agility – some humans are born with those attributes better than most, which we call talent. For that, it’s not surprising that at 13 or 14, a “good player” in school often is good in 4/5 different sports as the fundamentals are similar – speed, coordination between limbs, intelligence, fitness and agility. This varies from country to country depending on the most popular sports there (in India/Pakistan – it’s cricket, hockey; in USA probably baseball, basketball, tennis; in the Caribbean it’s football, athletics, baseball or cricket; in South Africa it’s football, cricket or Rugby).
It’s the system that transforms these boys with natural skills into professional sportsmen by providing them training facilities and allowing them to compete at highest level against fellow professionals with counter skills. The four aspects that I mentioned earlier, in last 12-15 years BCB has introduced/established many of those in Bangladesh, albeit with the help of foreign experts. We have a highly competitive countrywide domestic system, a filter which accumulates top talents and make them compete in big matches and there are many quality youth programs run by professionals. Besides, the payment structure in Bangladesh is one of the best in world – it will not produce the MS's, VK's, Afridi's, but it ensures the top 200 professionals are earning enough to keep them focused for two decades in the game.
If I am to specify one particular aspect – I'll pick the decentralization of cricket. 15 years back, 95% of Bangladeshi pro cricketers used to be born, groomed and developed in 4-5 cities (80% from Dhaka itself), which represented just about 10% of population. Today, almost entire Bangladesh team is formed by players coming from places which even some Bangladeshis will struggle to locate in a map. That’s a paradigm shift – in a country of 170m, majority passionate about a game, if you can expand your horizon from 10m to 150m base and create a level playing field, it’s bound to happen.
PakPassion: Do you think that the game is heavily tilted towards batsmen, making it difficult for bowlers to remain in the game?
MMHS: No, I don’t think the game is heavily tilted towards batsmen, rather it’s a killer inside for the batsmen – it’s finishing them by distractions. Any sport is about competing against a counter skill, strategy – changing rules in favor of one party doesn’t make it helpful for the other party, it makes them cheaper, weaker and inefficient. For example, with all sorts of protective gears, I see lot more batsmen getting injured these days compared to 70's and 80's – as Viv Richards said – wearing a helmet would have made me complacent.
Today, what the ICC mafia are doing is similar to withdrawing the “off-side” rule in football – 10+ goals per match will not make a forward better (or the game entertaining), because the game is not about numbers, it's about beating defenders by speed, skill, agility and intelligence. People don’t go to watch a boxer punching another one with his hands tied – that doesn’t make the loser poor.
Nowadays, bowlers are finding it tough to compete with the stats of 25-35 years back, but I believe, it’s much easier for them now – idiots administrating the game have raised the per for the course from 200 to 300 runs (And from 2.75 to 3.75 RR in Test) by reducing the course length, not by increasing the hazard (degree of difficulty), that actually has limited the skills and mental strengths of batsmen - check how many matches are won by batsmen chasing these days, when the target is a bit tricky and check what Viv or Javed or Greg or Zaheer did in 70's and 80's. It’s a contest between bat and ball – making one handicap doesn’t help the other either – it’s like building muscles with steroids. What damage ICC has done to batsmen, has a perfect specimen to study – spend some quality times on studying the 5 Tests in this summer’s Ashes, you‘ll understand.
PakPassion: Do you see 10 over cricket being introduced at the international level?
MMHS: Ideally, 10 overs cricket should be introduced, if not, at least 15 overs definitely – but I see it from different angle and can visualize a different solution. For live transmission and TV money, I have noticed that most successful games are of 2 to 3 hours in duration – which is about 15 overs/side.
What I see is massive stress on over rates – 20 overs in 60 minutes, with two “strategic” breaks for ad, that’s 70 minutes + 70 minutes + 10 minutes break in between innings - toss at 20 minutes before first ball and 30 minutes for media mockery ala Mayanty style (which is your cricket knowledge is secondary compared to your other “assets” as a cricket anchor) with “break ke baad” in every 5 minutes – a perfect package for 3 hours. Heavy penalty on no balls and wides, so that bowlers be ready to be hit for a six of him rather than running hard, bowling fast and risking an over step or missing radar.
PakPassion: What would you advice youngsters who would like to take up cricket as a profession?
MMHS: Simple – be passionate, work hard, do the correct things (there is nothing absolutely correct in any game, but there is a correct way of growing as a sportsman) and believe in yourself (and whoever you take as your creator).
Self-respect is extremely important as one has to be accountable on oneself first – ask yourself first, if you are justifying your decision (and family’s support) to be a cricketer with your actions or not. No coach or system will develop a player, if he starts to avoid his own image standing in front of a mirror. Some humans are born with extra natural skills, but not everyone ended up as Wasim Akram, at the same time, skills alone will not take you where Imran ended up in 1992, from his starting in 1971 – lots of blood, sweat and sacrifice is there and off course, as a believer, we have to accept the luck factor – SOMEONE also has to wish.
Targeting mediocrity never helps – it stops you from working hard and sweat on tough routines. Target for the peak and give your best honest jump, don’t target to survive only – that will never urge you to give everything and go for the toughest routines. If it doesn’t happen – it’s not the end of the world - never think that you are not talented enough, it just tells that you are not born with that extra effort required to reach there (if you are honest with your efforts); only handful of youths like you'll ever make it to the top.
And finally, avoid T20 cricket before your fundamental techniques are developed. Remember, education helps – it’s not about engineering or MBA degree or speaking in Shakespearean English, but keep reading habits, it opens eyes, makes people more aware and smarter.
PakPassion: 5 upcoming Pakistani batsmen and bowlers to look out for in the future?
MMHS: This one I picked from BD – I admire his passion and enthusiasm for PAK team, his ever existing positive mind.
I have highest hope on Saud Shakeel, probably a boy of genuine age, who reminds me of David Gower (no comparison yet). If he is not destroyed by PCB, he should play 500+ Internationals for PAK. For that, first thing he needs to do is choose a FC team which will play him every match and play him in top 3, preferably as an opener.
Can’t tell much about other U19 batsmen as I haven’t seen many (obviously not much impressed by Sami Aslam) – I am waiting to see the development of Saad Ali and this young kid Zeeshan. I'm a bit disappointed with the progress of Babar, he is being played in wrong spot, fortunately he still has time on his side. Imran Butt is a totally unknown quantity but I believe he will represent Pakistan one day.
Both the teen-aged spinners (Usama and the lefti Ashghar) are great prospects, though the other one (Gohar) didn’t flourish as much as I expected. Sadly, there's no fast bowler in sight – Hasan Ali looks potential, but at 21, he should have been an established member by now for Sialkot, particularly under a captain like Malik, who is among the few Pakistani captains who promotes youngsters. I don’t think any Pakistan fast bowler will ever be great if he tries to fix his line-length first, that’s not Pakistan's core. Get some U18 boys who runs hopelessly fast on bowling run-up and has the attitude of a fast bowler. Above everything, a fast bowler is fast bowler first mentally – I have lots of negatives to say about Shoaib, but he had in him what makes you to give everything to bowl fast – fire in bread basket, hate in eyes and childish excitement of uprooting a timber.
I see Pakistani pacers to be mama’s good boy – they don’t swear, don’t argue with the captain, don’t snatch their sweater from the umpire, don’t sledge and they hardly make eye contact with the batsman – these guys need to see the face the likes of Imran or Waqar once hit for a four. Maybe playing under polite and gentleman captains in last 10-12 years, has a lot to do for this soberness.
PakPassion: You seem to be negative about Pakistan's future in cricket, what’s the reason?
MMHS: I think, lots of new posters misinterpret my thoughts on Pakistan cricket in a negative way. There is often a tendency to find correlation between the raise of Bangladesh cricket and decline of Pakistan team, which actually is quite uncalled for.
I respect Pakistan's ability to find stunning youngsters with fundamental skills – I have posted several times countering the “lack of talent” argument. It’s about the transition between talented youngsters into professional cricketers. As I said several times, Pakistan had been entirely dependent on external sources on this and unless PCB develops it’s own capacity in terms of the 4 aspects I mentioned, Pakistan will keep producing skilled individuals, but not collective professionals, who can achieve something.
Inzi was unique in Pakistan's context that he is the only player developed entirely on Pakistan's domestic resources – he ended as a great, but not ATG like Imran expected. But, Imran’s assessment on Inzi has the clue on what’s missing – Khan saw Inzi at 23 last time and his assessment was based on that 23 years old young man who had ample amount of time to change his shots against a rampant Waqar Younis in nets. Imran compared that with the Javeds, Mazids and Zaheers at 23. The missing link here is that Khan left cricket world entirely – he didn’t see the struggle of Inzi against professional sides, while he knew how talented youngster Zaheer, Javed or Mazid were transformed into world beaters via County. Had Inzi played just about 3 years from 1992 for County, we would have seen a batsman standing tall among the 3 great contemporaries of his generation.
Now, there are lots of different versions regarding Pakistan's (and Bangladesh’s) qualifying and later prospects in WC 2023 - let me clear it once for the last time. Of the 3 formats, ODI is the most tactical and under the current system, I don’t see Pakistani players developing cricketers who are mentally tough and physically fit enough to contest the key moments. ICC is not going to make the WC a 16 team affair (2023 also will be 10 teams) and at one point, ICC will be forced to introduce some sort of regional qualifiers – maybe the hosts and top 4-5 teams automatically qualify while the rest of the teams fight it out for 5 or 6 spots in a regional qualifiers. Invariably, some sort of ranking will come in here for a cut and I can't see the Pakistan team improving their ODI ranking in the current ranking system.
Any ranking system is based on a fundamental – it benefits the odds (upset earns more points), which tells that, you can lose every match to top seed, but don’t lose a single one against an underdog. The Pakistan team is a bit unique in terms of their ups and downs (people sugar quote it with the term unpredictable) – often these type of teams/players don’t clock high rankings, as they often produces shockers. I see lots of similarities between the Pakistan team with Holland (football), France (rugby), Andre Agassi, Seb Ballesteros (Golf), Ronnie O’Sullivan – often brilliant, but then awful some times.
Agassi won Wimbledon from ranked outside 100, then exited 1st round in US Open, as World No. 1; Holland made 2 WC Finals in 74 and 78 (lost to hosts both times), and then missed next 2 World Cups (and 2002 one as well!!!) – compare that to the German football team – ruthless; they won’t lose a single match when not expected. Unless Pakistan's domestic system makes players mentally tougher, I honestly feel that at one point, they will have to play qualifiers for WC in Asian Region – that’s Afghanistan, Nepal or UAE. It’s not about the quality or talent, rather how you keep yourself above the cut line. It doesn’t take long for things to change – 12 months back, no one would have seen in nightmares that Bangladesh will make the CT, while Pakistan and WI will be in a rat race.
In a positive note, to be honest within several limitations, PCB has done some fantastic works in last two decades and I personally believe that the cricket infrastructure in Pakistan is multiple times better and systematic than what was 35 years back – problem is, it was so poor then and the rest of the world (including some minnows) have advanced so much that, still Pakistan’s system looks non-functional and somewhat obsolete. PSL will be a catalyst for Pakistan cricket – if PCB can manage it successfully. I am sure we'll see a fast forward progress in Pakistan's cricket with a successful PSL. Besides, Pakistan's players are kept isolated from IPL, which is the T20 version of 80's County; but once ECB starts it’s own T20 league, I am sure many Pakistani players will compete there with global stars, which will help them developing the mental aspects. Pakistan has a long history and tradition of producing outstanding individuals, if the fundamentals (skill and mass interest) are there, it won't take long for a turn around.
PakPassion: You have a writing style which has both positive and negative feedback – your comments on that?
MMHS: I try to put an argument with logic aand proper home work. For that, often I put some extra words which make the post a complete story. One can notice that there are not many follow up questions after my post as I try to cover the counter questions – what the reader might ask against my logic. I was reputed for my presentations – I never put more than 5 or 6 lines in my powerpoint slides, but with lots of charts, graphs and pictorials and I never read out the slide (there is no point telling that JAN sale was 3% lower than Decem, when everyone can see the dip in the curve) – it’s rather the context that you explain.
In written communication (here in posts) one has to be a bit expressive, informative and elaborate on the topic, logic or context as there is no direct communication. Also, a good speaker should sum-up his audience – one should know what and how much to explain in a board meeting with audience being VPs, EVPs and CXOs and how much to explain in a sales agent pitch. In written communication, your reader could be the CEO as well as the call centre agent, you have to elaborate – agent will read it out to understand what’s written, the CEO will go through it to check if there is any anomaly.
Besides, I don’t consider PakPassion as Facebook - I hardly post or respond to banter or leg-pulling; otherwise I would post lots of crisp one liners.
PakPassion: Where do you see subcontinent teams in 5 years time?
MMHS: I have very little interest in T20 – thought that targeting the WC 2016, I‘ll see some matches; but this morning just didn’t feel to turn on laptop at 8 AM. This is the same man, who once dropped an Engineering exam to watch Brian winning alone against those frightening Aussies at Bridgetown. I‘ll not tell anything about T20 – it’s a lottery, anyone can hit a jack pot on his day.
I see, Pakistan maintaining their superior status as Test team in Asia, but they will not reach the top level, unless the FC system is changed. India will always be a top team at home, but they will struggle outside Asia unless their batsmen start to justify their stats. I am a bit unconventional here, never believed that from 1986 to 2001, India failed to win a single Test outside home (Okay, 1 at Colombo and 1 at Dhaka) because Kumble, Srinath or Prashad couldn’t take 20 wickets - rather it was because Tendulkar, Dravid, Azhar, Ganguly, VVS’s failure to prove that they form a batting line up with 6 batsmen averaging over 45 and 2 over 50. Those 2nd class citizens of Indian cricket set the table at least 5 times, even as low as 120, the prince wasn’t good enough for the toast.
Sri Lanka was never a great Test side, had sporadic brilliance over a decade for few outstanding individuals – they will be a decent side at home and a poor away. Bangladesh is in a position from where we can only rise, so statistically we'll become a better Test side - how much in reality has to be seen. Apart from other issues, one major challenge for us is, we were drafted among cricket elites at a time when Test cricket is not the only format – lots of top youngsters don’t esteem to be a Test great in Bangladesh.
I think, we are entering into an era when Asia Cup (ODI) will almost be like the Champions League – that’s, there is no clear favorite. I see the gap between the 4 teams reducing considerably – India probably will have a better record (As they don’t lose many unexpected ones), while Pakistan will goof up in critical matches (I explained why) – the knockouts, the Finals, the series deciders. Sri Lanka will always be a better ODI side than a Test side – how good depends on how close match they can find for a Sanga or Malinga (odd are too high to be honest for them).
PakPassion: What do you expect from Bangladesh in the 2017 Champions Trophy?
MMHS: I have tremendous expectation of the Bangladesh side in CT2017, WC2019 and WC2023. We have the best combination for an ODI Team in terms of team composition, players’ synergy to accumulate collective skills and diversification in attacks. ODI is more of a combination game – in Test's, you pick your best 11 players, in ODI you pick the best combination of 11 individuals that suits the context.
I think, we‘ll do very well in next 2 events in UK. Our strength is batting and the balanced attack will be quite handy for early English summer. We already have a very good bunch of young players and there are few waiting on the wings. Besides, 2017 and 2019 is the period when 3 of our best cricketers (Shakib, Mushfiqur and Nasir) should be at their peak. I'll be disappointed if we lose all 3 group matches, but more than that I won’t be surprised if we make the Semi Final, particularly if we are in a group with 2 of India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka in it.
2019 WC is a different format – 9 tough matches before the Semi Final. I'm not sure if we'll be able to make the Semi Final (we are not strong enough to play 9 matches in 3 weeks), but should be in the middle block (5 to 7). However, I feel we could be just 1 upset away from a Semi Final place – beat 1 of Australia, South Africa or NZ and we can make that.
2023 WC is in Asia – 8 years, with lots of changes. Shakib and Mushfiqur's best years will be behind them but there must be lots of quality replacements. Besides, we'll probably play most of the matches at Mirpur – I'll be disappointed if we don’t make the Semi Final, even the Final as well – after that, who cares.
PakPassion: What does MMHS stand for?
MMHS: For choosing a login name for PakPassion, I picked this one – the first 3 are my initials (1st M is Mohammed, H stands for Hossain), S is the initial of my pet name (we Bengali's have often 3 pet names – 1 standard, 1 from mom and 1 from ..., this S one is the standard one).
PakPassion: Have you played cricket at any level or with any big names?
MMHS: My early school days were in Australia & UK, where I learned the game as a kid. Compared to sub-continent, sports infrastructure and facilities in western schools are way better, so when I returned to Bangladesh, as a boy, I was good enough to match the skills of players 6-7 years senior to me. I played lots of junior level cricket during few years stay in Bangladesh and I can tell that I was damn good in Bangladesh/youth standard, until I got seriously injured (torn ligament). Besides, my school grade sheet (and my parent’s job/social profile) wasn’t suitable to build a career in sports and leave studies in teens. Those were the days when one couldn’t have even dream't that in Bangladesh, you can drive a BMW X6 or a Porsche Cayenne from playing cricket.
I left cricket for few years to complete schools and when tried to make a comeback, my ego found myself to be too ordinary – it stopped there. But I kept myself involved as a keen follower, as a critic, as an organizer and certified umpire (not now, I didn’t renew it after 2005). My family had few people involved in club cricket/sports back in 90's – on voluntary level, I did contribute in building teams, hiring/scouting players; particularly for small tournaments here and there (there were many such in 90's). Couple of my “tu tuker” friends were in that 1999 WC team of Bangladesh which beat Pakistan and if destiny wished someone could have been part of that team – it wasn’t impossible looking 10 years back from that day.
PakPassion: Do you follow any other sport?
MMHS: I come from sports mad family – cricket, football, volleyball, basketball, Olympics, tennis, badminton, snooker and even hockey, you name it - my family, uncles and cousins and I follow it, watch the big events and gossip around. Apart from common games (in sub-continent perspectives) I do follow golf, snooker and I am a big fan of NBA (but no clue in other 3 North American Leagues/games) and I am a lifelong die-hard fan of Reds (Though this idiot BRogers is messing things at Anfield now days).
Because of spending few years in Australian and UK schools, my upbringing was in sports culture, which developed me into a very good athlete in schools – I think, I represented school teams for 7 or 8 games and sports in few years of schooling in Bangladesh. Between cricket and football, it’s tough to choose, but in recent days I am more to in cricket for Team Green and Red (and because we stink in football). Also, cricket is a unique game – it’s a team game where players compete individually against each other’s – India/Pakistan can crush Bangladesh, but still Sakib can keep his head high as he represents a poor unit, but he is not poor. Whatever might be the outcome, but when Imran runs to bowl at Viv – it’s a contest between two outstanding individuals, rest is secondary. That’s unique for a team sports.
PakPassion: Do you ever plan on writing a book/blog or articles on cricket?
MMHS: I still dream of becoming a sports columnist in my retirement days, but for the time being I am quite happy in what I am doing – working as a professional and gossiping in sports blogs. I could have written in magazines or blogs, even for payment, but that comes with a sacrifice – here in PP, I write what I believe and what I can back; writing for someone actually ties your hand – you have to be politically correct, have to write for the market (things that ‘ll be sold better), which I don’t think I ‘ll enjoy. Even now days’ person like David Gower is listing players targeting a 1.3bn market, who is going to buy my thought? Besides, writing professionally has it’s own hazard – grammar, spelling, aesthetics, proof reading; I am fine with PP style English.
PakPassion: What are your earliest memories of cricket?
MMHS: I think, I watched 1985 B&H WSC final with my family, but not much memory. Earliest that I can recall was probably Javed hitting Sharma for a six. That match was a delayed telecast in Bangladesh and that time I was in Dhaka.
PakPassion: Who is your favorite team besides Bangladesh?
MMHS: I became a fan of West Indies and the Pakistan team, more so for Imran and Viv rather than any sort of preference towards a country, though when I started to understand the game, Viv was way behind his best but in 80's BTV used to show B&H WSC Cup matches, Australian Test matches and old archives of B&H, which brought me closer to the WI team. I supported India whenever they faced teams outside Asia (I'm a big fan of Kapil), until their cricket media (and board) became too strong - started to get under everyone's skin and brainwash cricket.
WI has declined big time while Pakistan has replaced India as the most boring team – in last 15 years (after Wasim’s Captaincy) Pakistan has played to hide their top batsmen at 4, 5, 6 & 7; has used their fast bowlers to take the shine of new ball so that spinners can come into play, while India under Ganguly & MS (Dhoni) has played expressive cricket, particularly in ODI – put aggressive batsmen in 1, 2, 3; attacked with the new ball and fielded to keep the pressure on and take wickets rather than allowing the game to drift with 4/5 singles every over. I see lots of “India 70s and 80s” in this current Pakistan side – Shastri, Gavasker, Vengsarkar, Prabhakar, Gaekwad , Manjrekar playing in top 4 while Kapil, Azhar, Patil, Amarnath and even Tendulkar wasted at 5, 6, 7 or even 8 – using Ghavri, Binny, Madan to help Kapil taking the shine off, bring spinners with 5 men on line, bat to ensure respectable defeat (and remain not out to improve their averages).
It’s tough to be excited with a Pakistan side which opted for Rao Iftikhar or Rana Naved over Sami to take the new ball or Hafeez, Azhar, Shehzad, Taufeeq to open in ODI. I don’t think in last 15 years, I had much difference in support between India-Pakistan; probably wanted Ganguly/MS’s team to win over pathetic and boring captains like Waqar, Inzi, Misbah or Afridi.
PakPassion: Who is your favorite cricketer?
MMHS: As said, I grew up watching Imran and Viv – these two are my all-time favorite cricketers, closely followed by Kapil, Hadlee, Javed, Marshall and Hooper. After them, not in order, but I liked Azhar, Ganguly, Saeed, Inzi, Mark Waugh, Kumble and a few others; but probably the 4 players I passionately watched almost by ball was 2 W's, Lara and Warne. I rate Murali and Tend’kar to the highest level, but just never found them exciting – they are the metronomes who will hunt you by duration. Also, I like players playing for team, which actually doesn’t favor the great Indian. More currently, I like Virat, MS, Sanga and KP as batsmen (Rate AB highest, but don’t like the way South Africa plays their cricket) while Jimmy and Ajmal as bowler, outside of Bangladeshi players.
PakPassion:Why PakPassion? What brought you here and what makes you follow Pakistan cricket so passionately?
MMHS: Ever since Cricinfo and ESPNStar was hacked by the Indian media, I felt Pakistan almost out of cricket literature or information – no hype, no news, no analysis, no article. Just like outside India, cricket doesn’t exist in Asia. To read about Pakistan cricket or new players I looked for news links, blogs and sometimes in 2007/08 (or may be earlier) found PakPassion. For the first 4 to 5 years, I was a reader only and that time I used to read few other cricket blogs as well and the distinction was clearly evident. Once I decided to share my thoughts and opened my ID, the day after MS lifted the Cup it’s been 4+ years and I'm still going strong.
Following Pakistan Cricket has a lot of history attached – my mom spent few years in Lahore and Pindi (I think in 60's that was Pakistan's capital and my grandfather was a Govt. servant then). My mom was a keen cricket follower and she was a BIG fan of Imran – she always wanted me to be a cricketer, but only if can be like another (Sub-continent moms are emotional you know, no matter how much educated they are). Imran came with Omer Quarishi team in 1986 and mom went to stadium with me. That was first association with Pakistan Cricket, later when I started understanding cricket a bit, Imran’s Pakistan won the Series in India (blasted in ODI), won Neheru Cup, won WC and many tournaments in the UAE.
To be honest, that Pakistan team of 90's is one of the most under-achievers in history, probably in many other sports considered. It was full of stunning individuals and he who loves/follows/analyze the game from passion (and without any own country bias) simply can’t avoid being passionate by the Team PAK of 90's. I have lots of Indian friends - on face they ‘ll argue/taunt, but back of their mind I found each and everyone to be a great admirer (jealous) of the Pakistan team of 90s - that probably explains my case best. Besides, many PAK stars used to play club cricket in BD throughout 90s.
I used to scout players for clubs in 90's and there were hundreds of Pakistani cricketers travelling to Bangladesh as freelance club cricketers – I was stunned with the level of natural skill those unknown or hardly known Pakistan cricketers – unfit, little or no education, hardly any common sense, no systematic training or grooming, often no coaching or school, but boy, they could smash the leather ball hard and throw it fast & tricky. I had few contacts, but not much in last 15 years – got busy with higher studies and jobs in different countries, family life, but there is always time for first love.
PakPassion:What do you think needs to be done to improve the standard of domestic cricketers in India and Pakistan?
MMHS: This is one area I back my-self to be a professional. I can’t tell anything regarding my Bangladesh career, but for almost a decade I was involved in business strategy and expansion, as well as countrywide operation.
I think, a domestic system should deliver in 4 aspects –
- A fair system that filters the best talents
- An advanced system that develops players in terms of skills (fitness is part of skill), intellectual and mental aspects (competitive and modern, as well as aware of the rules & regulations) it provides up to date and diverse training facilities (In cricket, different type of wicket is a training facility)
- A system that keeps the mass market interested (in terms of the game itself and the next generation player pool), which is domestic competition, Home & away culture
- A system which provides financial security so that there is a professional class, who can survive on the game (that leads next generation interested).
Public interest and teams’ success are extremely correlated, which is a function of these 4 aspects.
Looking at the Pakistan domestic system, I actually don’t see any of these. I have written lot on that I won't reiterate it here. However, I see things moving positively, which is a good sign and I see few things gradually coming in the Pakistan system, which I had been writing on several times. To be honest, PCB has done wonders in Pakistan system in last 2 decades or so – central contracts, academies, modern training facility, certified coaches. Unfortunately, the mental or competitive aspects are not developing as there isn't much of a County window now and the system is too much individual dominant still.
I actually see lots of those 4 aspects covered in Indian domestic system. I am sure BCCI has enough expertise to run the game if they are willing and right men are behind (though this Shukla guy is an idiot – it feels sick that this joker is going to replace Dalmiah – I knew a Rajiv Shukla in 90's, who reminded me the jokers of Hindi movie, whenever opened mouth in DD).
Regarding the Indian system (or even Pakistani), I don’t think reducing the number of teams is a good idea and only way to improve. India has it’s unique problem – it’s not easy to filter top 35 players from 1.3bn people, of whom number of registered cricketers is probably more than the population of NZ. I trust Indian selectors and back room staffs (junior level coaches, grounds men, trainers, analysts..) to be much better than their Pakistani counterparts (because Pakistan never tried to develop that – it’s all about play hard/tape ball cricket here and there in clubs, until you are noticed by some Imran, Javed, Akram and subsequently been drafted by a County side) in terms of competences and probably fairness as well. Besides, the Indian system at least allows officials, selectors to do their jobs somewhat professionally.
I wouldn't change anything in Indian domestic cricket setup, I'd only add one more layer. For any system, even 30 teams in top tier are too many, but for a country of that size, even 100 teams are not much - in India or Pakistan, we can’t put 8 teams with 150 players only, out of few millions. What I'd do is unfortunately, what BCCI has closed this year – I'd keep Ranji Trophy exactly the way it is, but I would have made Dulip Trophy stronger. 5 Zones are fine - pick a 2 month window – 5 teams playing 8 home and away FC matches with top 60 Indian players from last Ranji season and couple of foreigners in each team and make sure that Indian national players participate. By foreigners, I mean the Styen, AB, Smith, Anderson, Johnson or Wahab class.
In short, I am asking BCCI to replicate something in small scale what TCCB used to run in 70's & 80's with 17 teams and 100+ world’s best cricketers. BCCI has the money, just needs the initiative - rest will be taken care of itself and it will benefit Cricket as a whole – it’s a bad taste for me to feel that Pollard's, Afridi's, Maxwell's and Raina's are the news makers these days, when once the Imran's, Viv's, Lillee's, Kapils and Hadlee's were the poster boys. In this model the happiest person will be BCCI Chairman of Selectors – his first cut of slashing 1,000 to 50 is done by 5 regional selectors.
PakPassion: What things you would like to change about yourself and PakPassion?
MMHS: I am quite happy with myself – probably have achieved (and enjoyed) more than what I would have expected 20 years back. Not much to change for me as long as I leave this world as a good father, husband and Muslim. The life is too small for constant changes – rather it’s wise to enjoy what is there. You never know if the change will bring good or bad.
For PakPassion, I think it’s a wonderful cricket blog, a place which probably is far better than some of the paid sources if one wants to learn the game (I actually never visited outside the cricket section). I don’t want to change much in PakPassion, maybe some posters themselves should change their approach when it comes to personal liking's or disliking and arguments. A bit of leg pulling is enjoyable, but there is a thick line between intellectual pinch and abuse. It’s a fantastic entertainment, scratched often by few individuals, which should be stopped.
One thing I would like to introduce is the proper method of POTW – at present, I feel, it’s a monopoly of few individuals, which I wish to be changed. Maybe we can introduce a poll where top 10-12 posts of last week is selected for posters to vote on that.
As if, we are too much focused on established stars at PP, but even in 1988, as a kid I knew there is another kid named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and there is an artist named Brian Charles Lara – PakPassion has a lot to do in this regard.
Also, I don’t like banning a poster permanently – he‘ll open a new account (even through a new device if IP blocking is used) and the person behind doesn’t change. I would have blocked the post and made it public, keeping the poster’s name and reason visible - in extreme cases, would have made the poster banned for few days or restricted his posts in some capacity, again making it public.
PakPassion: You're a big fan of Fazal Mahmood, do you have any video footage of him?
MMHS: No, I don’t have any, in fact I have never seen him in archives. Fazal played his last Test in 1962-63. If I can recall correctly, BTV and PTV started operation from 1964 (25 December 1964, I believe; DD is not much earlier or later – therefore, I am not sure if we have any recording of Fazal in Asian matches; maybe his spells in Oval 1954 might have some records, which should be available in thee BBC or MCC achieves. PakPassion’s British based posters can give a try – it’s worth trying, trust me. For that, on a matting wicket we are talking about a hybrid of McGrath and Steyn, maybe a bit slower, but three times tenacious - who once bowled 50+ overs at stress, still mean, accurate and threatening.
PakPassion: Who in your opinion is the best cricketer to have started his Bangladesh career before 2005? What's the reason behind major transformation of Bangladesh cricket?
MMHS: It’s difficult to single out one – Raqibul Hasan almost made the Pakistan team (he was destined for a longer career with Pakistan) in a match on 1st March 1971, when he was officially 17. He retired from cricket and went to administration before I could understand cricket. Gazi Ashraf had a couple of outstanding seasons in late 80's, when he was the top scorer in Dhaka League, at that time when over 30 Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan FC cricketers used to play in that league. Golam Nowsher would have definitely made the Indian team for peak 4-5 years of his career in 80's for his left arm fast medium. Syed Ashraful (ACC’s former CEO) played few years in League Cricket in UK during his studies, but he went into a corporate and administrative career.
Athar, Aminul, Minhaz, Rafique and Jahangir Shah played club cricket in UK & Australia and probably were among the few international quality players in 80's & 90's from Bangladesh, while Khaled Mashud in 90's, on merit could have kept for few other Test sides. Rafique was probably the best Test cricketer from Bangladesh till to date (before this current lot). However, the standard of our cricket was at such low even few years before 2005, that it’s difficult to compare players of different decade to mark the best – probably it will be between Aminul, Rafique and Rakibul. My vote is for Rafique – the lone fighter for a club level team given Test status.
I am the first person here to admit that, though I see a transformation in the Bangladesh team, I don't think it's an earth shattering one. In a team sports, dominated by individuals, if all of 8 or 9 average players with couple of world class talent hits their peak at same time, they can do miracles in their favorable conditions – something we saw in March 1996, at a much bigger stage. Having said that, compared to 1999, we have developed light years to be honest. I see lots of posts regarding Bangladesh's slow progress in last 15 years – a bit silly, because these people have no idea what India and NZ went through in first 35-38 years and compared it to 1999, what monumental task BCB (and Bangladesh as a whole) has done in last 15 years in cricket. There's still a long way to go, but at least we're on the track of a long trail, with the destination in front.
I always believe that, talent is a fake word in sports – if any game is followed passionately by mass, there will be lots of teens with natural ability, which we mistakenly identify as talent. Every game has a degree of difficulty – it’s against time, distance, power or counter skills that you overcome by instincts, hand/leg-eye coordination, intelligence and agility – some humans are born with those attributes better than most, which we call talent. For that, it’s not surprising that at 13 or 14, a “good player” in school often is good in 4/5 different sports as the fundamentals are similar – speed, coordination between limbs, intelligence, fitness and agility. This varies from country to country depending on the most popular sports there (in India/Pakistan – it’s cricket, hockey; in USA probably baseball, basketball, tennis; in the Caribbean it’s football, athletics, baseball or cricket; in South Africa it’s football, cricket or Rugby).
It’s the system that transforms these boys with natural skills into professional sportsmen by providing them training facilities and allowing them to compete at highest level against fellow professionals with counter skills. The four aspects that I mentioned earlier, in last 12-15 years BCB has introduced/established many of those in Bangladesh, albeit with the help of foreign experts. We have a highly competitive countrywide domestic system, a filter which accumulates top talents and make them compete in big matches and there are many quality youth programs run by professionals. Besides, the payment structure in Bangladesh is one of the best in world – it will not produce the MS's, VK's, Afridi's, but it ensures the top 200 professionals are earning enough to keep them focused for two decades in the game.
If I am to specify one particular aspect – I'll pick the decentralization of cricket. 15 years back, 95% of Bangladeshi pro cricketers used to be born, groomed and developed in 4-5 cities (80% from Dhaka itself), which represented just about 10% of population. Today, almost entire Bangladesh team is formed by players coming from places which even some Bangladeshis will struggle to locate in a map. That’s a paradigm shift – in a country of 170m, majority passionate about a game, if you can expand your horizon from 10m to 150m base and create a level playing field, it’s bound to happen.
PakPassion: Do you think that the game is heavily tilted towards batsmen, making it difficult for bowlers to remain in the game?
MMHS: No, I don’t think the game is heavily tilted towards batsmen, rather it’s a killer inside for the batsmen – it’s finishing them by distractions. Any sport is about competing against a counter skill, strategy – changing rules in favor of one party doesn’t make it helpful for the other party, it makes them cheaper, weaker and inefficient. For example, with all sorts of protective gears, I see lot more batsmen getting injured these days compared to 70's and 80's – as Viv Richards said – wearing a helmet would have made me complacent.
Today, what the ICC mafia are doing is similar to withdrawing the “off-side” rule in football – 10+ goals per match will not make a forward better (or the game entertaining), because the game is not about numbers, it's about beating defenders by speed, skill, agility and intelligence. People don’t go to watch a boxer punching another one with his hands tied – that doesn’t make the loser poor.
Nowadays, bowlers are finding it tough to compete with the stats of 25-35 years back, but I believe, it’s much easier for them now – idiots administrating the game have raised the per for the course from 200 to 300 runs (And from 2.75 to 3.75 RR in Test) by reducing the course length, not by increasing the hazard (degree of difficulty), that actually has limited the skills and mental strengths of batsmen - check how many matches are won by batsmen chasing these days, when the target is a bit tricky and check what Viv or Javed or Greg or Zaheer did in 70's and 80's. It’s a contest between bat and ball – making one handicap doesn’t help the other either – it’s like building muscles with steroids. What damage ICC has done to batsmen, has a perfect specimen to study – spend some quality times on studying the 5 Tests in this summer’s Ashes, you‘ll understand.
PakPassion: Do you see 10 over cricket being introduced at the international level?
MMHS: Ideally, 10 overs cricket should be introduced, if not, at least 15 overs definitely – but I see it from different angle and can visualize a different solution. For live transmission and TV money, I have noticed that most successful games are of 2 to 3 hours in duration – which is about 15 overs/side.
What I see is massive stress on over rates – 20 overs in 60 minutes, with two “strategic” breaks for ad, that’s 70 minutes + 70 minutes + 10 minutes break in between innings - toss at 20 minutes before first ball and 30 minutes for media mockery ala Mayanty style (which is your cricket knowledge is secondary compared to your other “assets” as a cricket anchor) with “break ke baad” in every 5 minutes – a perfect package for 3 hours. Heavy penalty on no balls and wides, so that bowlers be ready to be hit for a six of him rather than running hard, bowling fast and risking an over step or missing radar.
PakPassion: What would you advice youngsters who would like to take up cricket as a profession?
MMHS: Simple – be passionate, work hard, do the correct things (there is nothing absolutely correct in any game, but there is a correct way of growing as a sportsman) and believe in yourself (and whoever you take as your creator).
Self-respect is extremely important as one has to be accountable on oneself first – ask yourself first, if you are justifying your decision (and family’s support) to be a cricketer with your actions or not. No coach or system will develop a player, if he starts to avoid his own image standing in front of a mirror. Some humans are born with extra natural skills, but not everyone ended up as Wasim Akram, at the same time, skills alone will not take you where Imran ended up in 1992, from his starting in 1971 – lots of blood, sweat and sacrifice is there and off course, as a believer, we have to accept the luck factor – SOMEONE also has to wish.
Targeting mediocrity never helps – it stops you from working hard and sweat on tough routines. Target for the peak and give your best honest jump, don’t target to survive only – that will never urge you to give everything and go for the toughest routines. If it doesn’t happen – it’s not the end of the world - never think that you are not talented enough, it just tells that you are not born with that extra effort required to reach there (if you are honest with your efforts); only handful of youths like you'll ever make it to the top.
And finally, avoid T20 cricket before your fundamental techniques are developed. Remember, education helps – it’s not about engineering or MBA degree or speaking in Shakespearean English, but keep reading habits, it opens eyes, makes people more aware and smarter.
PakPassion: 5 upcoming Pakistani batsmen and bowlers to look out for in the future?
MMHS: This one I picked from BD – I admire his passion and enthusiasm for PAK team, his ever existing positive mind.
I have highest hope on Saud Shakeel, probably a boy of genuine age, who reminds me of David Gower (no comparison yet). If he is not destroyed by PCB, he should play 500+ Internationals for PAK. For that, first thing he needs to do is choose a FC team which will play him every match and play him in top 3, preferably as an opener.
Can’t tell much about other U19 batsmen as I haven’t seen many (obviously not much impressed by Sami Aslam) – I am waiting to see the development of Saad Ali and this young kid Zeeshan. I'm a bit disappointed with the progress of Babar, he is being played in wrong spot, fortunately he still has time on his side. Imran Butt is a totally unknown quantity but I believe he will represent Pakistan one day.
Both the teen-aged spinners (Usama and the lefti Ashghar) are great prospects, though the other one (Gohar) didn’t flourish as much as I expected. Sadly, there's no fast bowler in sight – Hasan Ali looks potential, but at 21, he should have been an established member by now for Sialkot, particularly under a captain like Malik, who is among the few Pakistani captains who promotes youngsters. I don’t think any Pakistan fast bowler will ever be great if he tries to fix his line-length first, that’s not Pakistan's core. Get some U18 boys who runs hopelessly fast on bowling run-up and has the attitude of a fast bowler. Above everything, a fast bowler is fast bowler first mentally – I have lots of negatives to say about Shoaib, but he had in him what makes you to give everything to bowl fast – fire in bread basket, hate in eyes and childish excitement of uprooting a timber.
I see Pakistani pacers to be mama’s good boy – they don’t swear, don’t argue with the captain, don’t snatch their sweater from the umpire, don’t sledge and they hardly make eye contact with the batsman – these guys need to see the face the likes of Imran or Waqar once hit for a four. Maybe playing under polite and gentleman captains in last 10-12 years, has a lot to do for this soberness.
PakPassion: You seem to be negative about Pakistan's future in cricket, what’s the reason?
MMHS: I think, lots of new posters misinterpret my thoughts on Pakistan cricket in a negative way. There is often a tendency to find correlation between the raise of Bangladesh cricket and decline of Pakistan team, which actually is quite uncalled for.
I respect Pakistan's ability to find stunning youngsters with fundamental skills – I have posted several times countering the “lack of talent” argument. It’s about the transition between talented youngsters into professional cricketers. As I said several times, Pakistan had been entirely dependent on external sources on this and unless PCB develops it’s own capacity in terms of the 4 aspects I mentioned, Pakistan will keep producing skilled individuals, but not collective professionals, who can achieve something.
Inzi was unique in Pakistan's context that he is the only player developed entirely on Pakistan's domestic resources – he ended as a great, but not ATG like Imran expected. But, Imran’s assessment on Inzi has the clue on what’s missing – Khan saw Inzi at 23 last time and his assessment was based on that 23 years old young man who had ample amount of time to change his shots against a rampant Waqar Younis in nets. Imran compared that with the Javeds, Mazids and Zaheers at 23. The missing link here is that Khan left cricket world entirely – he didn’t see the struggle of Inzi against professional sides, while he knew how talented youngster Zaheer, Javed or Mazid were transformed into world beaters via County. Had Inzi played just about 3 years from 1992 for County, we would have seen a batsman standing tall among the 3 great contemporaries of his generation.
Now, there are lots of different versions regarding Pakistan's (and Bangladesh’s) qualifying and later prospects in WC 2023 - let me clear it once for the last time. Of the 3 formats, ODI is the most tactical and under the current system, I don’t see Pakistani players developing cricketers who are mentally tough and physically fit enough to contest the key moments. ICC is not going to make the WC a 16 team affair (2023 also will be 10 teams) and at one point, ICC will be forced to introduce some sort of regional qualifiers – maybe the hosts and top 4-5 teams automatically qualify while the rest of the teams fight it out for 5 or 6 spots in a regional qualifiers. Invariably, some sort of ranking will come in here for a cut and I can't see the Pakistan team improving their ODI ranking in the current ranking system.
Any ranking system is based on a fundamental – it benefits the odds (upset earns more points), which tells that, you can lose every match to top seed, but don’t lose a single one against an underdog. The Pakistan team is a bit unique in terms of their ups and downs (people sugar quote it with the term unpredictable) – often these type of teams/players don’t clock high rankings, as they often produces shockers. I see lots of similarities between the Pakistan team with Holland (football), France (rugby), Andre Agassi, Seb Ballesteros (Golf), Ronnie O’Sullivan – often brilliant, but then awful some times.
Agassi won Wimbledon from ranked outside 100, then exited 1st round in US Open, as World No. 1; Holland made 2 WC Finals in 74 and 78 (lost to hosts both times), and then missed next 2 World Cups (and 2002 one as well!!!) – compare that to the German football team – ruthless; they won’t lose a single match when not expected. Unless Pakistan's domestic system makes players mentally tougher, I honestly feel that at one point, they will have to play qualifiers for WC in Asian Region – that’s Afghanistan, Nepal or UAE. It’s not about the quality or talent, rather how you keep yourself above the cut line. It doesn’t take long for things to change – 12 months back, no one would have seen in nightmares that Bangladesh will make the CT, while Pakistan and WI will be in a rat race.
In a positive note, to be honest within several limitations, PCB has done some fantastic works in last two decades and I personally believe that the cricket infrastructure in Pakistan is multiple times better and systematic than what was 35 years back – problem is, it was so poor then and the rest of the world (including some minnows) have advanced so much that, still Pakistan’s system looks non-functional and somewhat obsolete. PSL will be a catalyst for Pakistan cricket – if PCB can manage it successfully. I am sure we'll see a fast forward progress in Pakistan's cricket with a successful PSL. Besides, Pakistan's players are kept isolated from IPL, which is the T20 version of 80's County; but once ECB starts it’s own T20 league, I am sure many Pakistani players will compete there with global stars, which will help them developing the mental aspects. Pakistan has a long history and tradition of producing outstanding individuals, if the fundamentals (skill and mass interest) are there, it won't take long for a turn around.
PakPassion: You have a writing style which has both positive and negative feedback – your comments on that?
MMHS: I try to put an argument with logic aand proper home work. For that, often I put some extra words which make the post a complete story. One can notice that there are not many follow up questions after my post as I try to cover the counter questions – what the reader might ask against my logic. I was reputed for my presentations – I never put more than 5 or 6 lines in my powerpoint slides, but with lots of charts, graphs and pictorials and I never read out the slide (there is no point telling that JAN sale was 3% lower than Decem, when everyone can see the dip in the curve) – it’s rather the context that you explain.
In written communication (here in posts) one has to be a bit expressive, informative and elaborate on the topic, logic or context as there is no direct communication. Also, a good speaker should sum-up his audience – one should know what and how much to explain in a board meeting with audience being VPs, EVPs and CXOs and how much to explain in a sales agent pitch. In written communication, your reader could be the CEO as well as the call centre agent, you have to elaborate – agent will read it out to understand what’s written, the CEO will go through it to check if there is any anomaly.
Besides, I don’t consider PakPassion as Facebook - I hardly post or respond to banter or leg-pulling; otherwise I would post lots of crisp one liners.
PakPassion: Where do you see subcontinent teams in 5 years time?
MMHS: I have very little interest in T20 – thought that targeting the WC 2016, I‘ll see some matches; but this morning just didn’t feel to turn on laptop at 8 AM. This is the same man, who once dropped an Engineering exam to watch Brian winning alone against those frightening Aussies at Bridgetown. I‘ll not tell anything about T20 – it’s a lottery, anyone can hit a jack pot on his day.
I see, Pakistan maintaining their superior status as Test team in Asia, but they will not reach the top level, unless the FC system is changed. India will always be a top team at home, but they will struggle outside Asia unless their batsmen start to justify their stats. I am a bit unconventional here, never believed that from 1986 to 2001, India failed to win a single Test outside home (Okay, 1 at Colombo and 1 at Dhaka) because Kumble, Srinath or Prashad couldn’t take 20 wickets - rather it was because Tendulkar, Dravid, Azhar, Ganguly, VVS’s failure to prove that they form a batting line up with 6 batsmen averaging over 45 and 2 over 50. Those 2nd class citizens of Indian cricket set the table at least 5 times, even as low as 120, the prince wasn’t good enough for the toast.
Sri Lanka was never a great Test side, had sporadic brilliance over a decade for few outstanding individuals – they will be a decent side at home and a poor away. Bangladesh is in a position from where we can only rise, so statistically we'll become a better Test side - how much in reality has to be seen. Apart from other issues, one major challenge for us is, we were drafted among cricket elites at a time when Test cricket is not the only format – lots of top youngsters don’t esteem to be a Test great in Bangladesh.
I think, we are entering into an era when Asia Cup (ODI) will almost be like the Champions League – that’s, there is no clear favorite. I see the gap between the 4 teams reducing considerably – India probably will have a better record (As they don’t lose many unexpected ones), while Pakistan will goof up in critical matches (I explained why) – the knockouts, the Finals, the series deciders. Sri Lanka will always be a better ODI side than a Test side – how good depends on how close match they can find for a Sanga or Malinga (odd are too high to be honest for them).
PakPassion: What do you expect from Bangladesh in the 2017 Champions Trophy?
MMHS: I have tremendous expectation of the Bangladesh side in CT2017, WC2019 and WC2023. We have the best combination for an ODI Team in terms of team composition, players’ synergy to accumulate collective skills and diversification in attacks. ODI is more of a combination game – in Test's, you pick your best 11 players, in ODI you pick the best combination of 11 individuals that suits the context.
I think, we‘ll do very well in next 2 events in UK. Our strength is batting and the balanced attack will be quite handy for early English summer. We already have a very good bunch of young players and there are few waiting on the wings. Besides, 2017 and 2019 is the period when 3 of our best cricketers (Shakib, Mushfiqur and Nasir) should be at their peak. I'll be disappointed if we lose all 3 group matches, but more than that I won’t be surprised if we make the Semi Final, particularly if we are in a group with 2 of India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka in it.
2019 WC is a different format – 9 tough matches before the Semi Final. I'm not sure if we'll be able to make the Semi Final (we are not strong enough to play 9 matches in 3 weeks), but should be in the middle block (5 to 7). However, I feel we could be just 1 upset away from a Semi Final place – beat 1 of Australia, South Africa or NZ and we can make that.
2023 WC is in Asia – 8 years, with lots of changes. Shakib and Mushfiqur's best years will be behind them but there must be lots of quality replacements. Besides, we'll probably play most of the matches at Mirpur – I'll be disappointed if we don’t make the Semi Final, even the Final as well – after that, who cares.
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