How did Bangladesh become a cricketing nation?
This is the script for my YouTube video, which you can access here.
Bangladesh. One of the few countries in the world, where cricket is the dominant sport. Cricket is everything in Bangladesh. The players are the most known faces; they get more media attention than movie stars, the country comes to a halt when the national team plays, even the prime minister drop by regularly to support the team in big matches. But how exactly, did this South Asian Country become a cricketing nation?
Cricket was introduced in the region by the British in the late 18th century. Most of the cricket was based around Kolkata, then known as Calcutta. The Calcutta Cricket Club was one of the oldest cricketing club in the world and regularly arranged matches in the “Maidan”.
After the partition in 1947, Dhaka Stadium hosted several matches between Pakistan and other nations regularly during 50s and 60s. No Bengalis were featured in the Pakistan side until Raqibul Hasan made it to the Pakistan national side in the 1970. Shortly afterwards, the liberation movement for an independent nation broke out and cricketers including Raqibul and Jewel actively participated in the war for independence.
After Bangladesh was formed, The Bangladesh Cricket Control Board was established in 1972. In 1976, The MCC was invited to to tour Bangladesh. Raqibul Hasan was the captain of the Bangladesh team. One of the biggest finds of the team was Yusuf Babu, who later became the first Bangladeshi to score an international hundred. The next year, Bangladesh became an Associate member of the I.C.C. The first tournament win came in 1984 by defeating Hong Kong. In the following years, Bangladesh failed to win any significant trophies.
But then, everything changed.
In 1997, the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup was taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Bangladesh won their all five matches and defeated Kenya in the Final to lift their first ICC trophy. This feat brought the whole nation together. The players became national heroes overnight. A grand reception was arranged for the contingent upon arrival. It is safe to say that at this point, Bangladesh truly became a cricketing nation.
Picture a country, mostly in the international headlines for all the negative reasons, has finally found something to be proud of. This win gave the people of Bangladesh a ray of hope…a glimpse of positivity that projected the long awaited feeling of victory and accomplishment. The Bangladesh national Cricket Team became everything that Bangladeshi people longed for. And slowly but surely…the cricket team began to reward the fans with reasons of joy. Every single milestone, team or individual, every good passage of play has been the reason for hope for every Bangladeshi citizens. The absolute fanatic and relentless support for cricket in Bangladesh broadcasts it every time.
After the 1997 success, Bangladesh is now one of the elite members of the cricketing world, but more often than not…has fallen short of expectations in the ICC tournaments. The biggest achievement in Bangladesh cricket was winning the ICC U19 world Cup in 2020, but there is still a lot to be achieved.
Regardless of any future success of Bangladesh cricket, it is safe to say that Bangladesh will stay a cricketing nation…for a long time.
References:
The Journey of Bangladesh Cricket by Saiyeed Shahjada Al Kareem
http://www.banglacricket.com/html/history/timeline.php
https://www.sutori.com/en/story/history-of-cricket-in-bangladesh--V51ynsQfrwwShp1FMA1iqNoC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_national_cricket_team
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/rewind-cricket-while-dhaka-burned-797195
https://www.tbsnews.net/sports/yousuf-babu-bangladeshi-cricketing-great-its-pre-test-days-206254
