shaz619
Test Star
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2010
- Runs
- 39,061
- Post of the Week
- 7
Bangladesh have begun to improve now and over the past couple of years have become a very good side at home.
It hasn't always been like that and for long time they were a minnow, now many will still classify them as a minnow due to "they are yet to do x,y,z away from home" but many teams in this era struggle away.
Anyhow, for many years when Bangladesh were struggling to prove their Test status they always had two world class players; Shakib and Tamim.
Tamim's performances amid all the doom and gloom received little notoriety and attention simply because he played for a minnow; after many years Pakistan have finally found a promising set of openers in Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali, what would we have done to have an opener like Tamim during our dire straits?
Tamim Iqbal is often put on a level playing field as someone like a Vijay or even a Virat Kohli. But such players have had the luxury of playing in a team which is a lot more settled, experienced and stronger unless we're going to classify India as minnow now.
Now I understand that openers arguably have the most important job as batsman and from that perspective Tamim's job is no different to other openers.
But what has made Tamim job unique is the increased pressure due to the huge weight on his shoulders, this stems from playing for a significantly weaker team over the years which had been fighting to prove its Test Status. He rarely got to walk out to the middle with a bit of freedom/comfort, we shouldn't belittle the psychological element here or Tamim's distinctive responsibility.
In Test Matches Won, Lost and Drawn for Bangladesh,
Tamim Iqbal's batting average has been the following in these games:
Won: 50.35
Drawn: 48.85
Lost: 35.63
Shakib Al Hassan:
Won: 46.23
Drawn: 34.73
Lost: 52.20
Mashrafe Mortaza:
Won: 26.50
Drawn: 9.81
Lost: 40.25
Mushfiqur Rahim:
Won: 35.23
Drawn: 28.75
Lost: 46.27
These numbers emphasise Tamim's importance to Bangladesh and how much they have relied on him.
There have been posters who have made comments such as
However, it is in fact the end of the world if Tamim fails. Do people honestly
believe that Tamim walks out to bat with such a defeatist attitude because BD are a minnow who are expected to get thrashed? it's quiet insulting to not only Tamim but the Test Level.
India's first two series wins were against Pakistan and New Zealand, both of whom had not won a series at that point. It took India 29 years to beat England in a series. Furthermore, it took 19 years before India beat England in a Test and 15 Test Matches.
It seems like tradition for new Teams not to get many Tests and I fear the same for Afghanistan and Ireland once their ascension to the Test Level is complete. It is also worth noting that Bangladesh have not played Australia for 10 years now (I have doubts if they will be touring BD any time soon) and prior to the first Test against England during the historic series recently they had not played a Test for over a year. During the 16 year period from BD's Test Status up until now they've played a total of 10 Test Matches against England, that's the same number of Test Matches which England and Australia have played in about 12 months more recently.
I wanted to highlight these points in terms the number of games Bangladesh have played and how long it took them to beat England in comparison to India for example in order to downplay this idea that Batsman such as Tamim Iqbal walk out to the middle with a defeatist attitude, you see everyone had to start somewhere and the key words are patience and investment.
In fact the increased scrutiny which comes with being a minnow and added responsibility with the bat being a valued member of the team just adds to the odds which a batsman such as Tamim Iqbal has had to overcome over the years. Because, you're not only playing for your team (be it as a one man army or not) but you're also playing to prove you BELONG.
During Bangladesh's tour of England in 2010, Geoffrey Boycott made comments that Bangladesh shouldn't play Test Cricket. The response from Tamim? a magnificent century at Lords against a scary bowling attack in tough conditions.
These were Tamim's comments following his champion performance, "I was watching television last night when I saw him [Boycott] commenting that Bangladesh should not play Test cricket," Tamim said. "I felt very bad and could not sleep until 1am. It made me determined to do something to show him in the field. They are the senior cricketers whom we respect. We expect them to respect us as well. We are a developing team and we really deserve some support from a person like Mr Boycott."
Can't advocate enough the part in bold, with so many eyes on you at the highest level many a time players of Tamim's class could have fallen but he rose time and time again despite everything that has been against him. We've been quick to belittle the Bangladeshi team over the years but we've also failed to highlight their lack of support.
When you factor in all the points I've mentioned, the performance by Tamim in England has to be amongst the greatest ever. Am also glad that such was his prowess in England that in 2011 he was named as one of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack's four Cricketers of the Year and Wisden's Test Player of the Year; this is an honour of great prestige and rarely do you see touring batsman receive such an award.
It's a shame that even after all these years the notoriety which comes with great performances doesn't exist when it comes to Tamim Iqbal in comparison to players of the established Test Nations, but hopefully that will change in the future as Bangladesh continues to improve.
It hasn't always been like that and for long time they were a minnow, now many will still classify them as a minnow due to "they are yet to do x,y,z away from home" but many teams in this era struggle away.
Anyhow, for many years when Bangladesh were struggling to prove their Test status they always had two world class players; Shakib and Tamim.
Tamim's performances amid all the doom and gloom received little notoriety and attention simply because he played for a minnow; after many years Pakistan have finally found a promising set of openers in Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali, what would we have done to have an opener like Tamim during our dire straits?
Tamim Iqbal is often put on a level playing field as someone like a Vijay or even a Virat Kohli. But such players have had the luxury of playing in a team which is a lot more settled, experienced and stronger unless we're going to classify India as minnow now.
Now I understand that openers arguably have the most important job as batsman and from that perspective Tamim's job is no different to other openers.
But what has made Tamim job unique is the increased pressure due to the huge weight on his shoulders, this stems from playing for a significantly weaker team over the years which had been fighting to prove its Test Status. He rarely got to walk out to the middle with a bit of freedom/comfort, we shouldn't belittle the psychological element here or Tamim's distinctive responsibility.
In Test Matches Won, Lost and Drawn for Bangladesh,
Tamim Iqbal's batting average has been the following in these games:
Won: 50.35
Drawn: 48.85
Lost: 35.63
Shakib Al Hassan:
Won: 46.23
Drawn: 34.73
Lost: 52.20
Mashrafe Mortaza:
Won: 26.50
Drawn: 9.81
Lost: 40.25
Mushfiqur Rahim:
Won: 35.23
Drawn: 28.75
Lost: 46.27
These numbers emphasise Tamim's importance to Bangladesh and how much they have relied on him.
There have been posters who have made comments such as
However, it is in fact the end of the world if Tamim fails. Do people honestly
believe that Tamim walks out to bat with such a defeatist attitude because BD are a minnow who are expected to get thrashed? it's quiet insulting to not only Tamim but the Test Level.
India's first two series wins were against Pakistan and New Zealand, both of whom had not won a series at that point. It took India 29 years to beat England in a series. Furthermore, it took 19 years before India beat England in a Test and 15 Test Matches.
It seems like tradition for new Teams not to get many Tests and I fear the same for Afghanistan and Ireland once their ascension to the Test Level is complete. It is also worth noting that Bangladesh have not played Australia for 10 years now (I have doubts if they will be touring BD any time soon) and prior to the first Test against England during the historic series recently they had not played a Test for over a year. During the 16 year period from BD's Test Status up until now they've played a total of 10 Test Matches against England, that's the same number of Test Matches which England and Australia have played in about 12 months more recently.
I wanted to highlight these points in terms the number of games Bangladesh have played and how long it took them to beat England in comparison to India for example in order to downplay this idea that Batsman such as Tamim Iqbal walk out to the middle with a defeatist attitude, you see everyone had to start somewhere and the key words are patience and investment.
In fact the increased scrutiny which comes with being a minnow and added responsibility with the bat being a valued member of the team just adds to the odds which a batsman such as Tamim Iqbal has had to overcome over the years. Because, you're not only playing for your team (be it as a one man army or not) but you're also playing to prove you BELONG.
During Bangladesh's tour of England in 2010, Geoffrey Boycott made comments that Bangladesh shouldn't play Test Cricket. The response from Tamim? a magnificent century at Lords against a scary bowling attack in tough conditions.
These were Tamim's comments following his champion performance, "I was watching television last night when I saw him [Boycott] commenting that Bangladesh should not play Test cricket," Tamim said. "I felt very bad and could not sleep until 1am. It made me determined to do something to show him in the field. They are the senior cricketers whom we respect. We expect them to respect us as well. We are a developing team and we really deserve some support from a person like Mr Boycott."
Can't advocate enough the part in bold, with so many eyes on you at the highest level many a time players of Tamim's class could have fallen but he rose time and time again despite everything that has been against him. We've been quick to belittle the Bangladeshi team over the years but we've also failed to highlight their lack of support.
When you factor in all the points I've mentioned, the performance by Tamim in England has to be amongst the greatest ever. Am also glad that such was his prowess in England that in 2011 he was named as one of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack's four Cricketers of the Year and Wisden's Test Player of the Year; this is an honour of great prestige and rarely do you see touring batsman receive such an award.
It's a shame that even after all these years the notoriety which comes with great performances doesn't exist when it comes to Tamim Iqbal in comparison to players of the established Test Nations, but hopefully that will change in the future as Bangladesh continues to improve.
but just putting into perspective how underrated he is
