Mohammad Ashraful    

How Bangladesh cricket will view Mohammad Ashraful remains up for debate - and that will be a really long debate - but the fact remains that for eight years it was only this boy wonder who raised the country's cricket to a surfer's optimism from the debilitating quicksand that was their initiation into Test cricket since 2000. Whether it was in becoming the youngest Test centurion in 2001, the unbeaten 158 against India in 2004 which calmed down gnawing questions about Bangladesh's Test status, the mastery of the 100 he made against Australia in Cardiff triggering the mother of all cricketing upsets the following year, or the innovative 87 against South Africa in the 2007 World Cup, Ashraful provided the entertainment quotient that turned heads towards Bangladesh in the early days.

The trouble with Ashraful has been his inconsistency. As long as you enjoy the highlight reel of his career, everything seems rosy. But one look at the overall numbers and it is easy to realise why some of his fans have given up on him. The fact that he has a score of 50 or more roughly 15% of the time he has batted in international cricket is one of those markers, like his batting average, that pulls him down as a batsman. Is it easy to say that he has underachieved, but those who have dealt with him over the years think otherwise, as they have been surprised by his own lack of confidence in his immense talent.

He has at times blamed Jamie Siddons for being too overbearing on his batting and captaincy, and while it is true that the Australian wanted the whole team to perform rather than just an individual, it was always going to be in Ashraful's control. For a long time, his was one of three names that were automatically placed in the team sheet, after he made his debut century against Sri Lanka at the age of 16.

His rise from the outskirts of Dhaka to cricket's wonderboy has been well documented. He trained under Wahidul Gani, a dedicated coach who ran his academy in Dhanmondi, before making his club debut for Amorjyoti. After warming the benches for the star-studded Surjo Tarun in the Dhaka Premier League in 2000-01, he made it to the Bangladesh team on the back of a lot of promise and because the selectors were too focused on youth. An undercooked batsman, Ashraful's natural inclination for the cut and pull held him for an innings or two at best, but it was never enough. Yet, he managed to put together a substantial innings every time the exasperation grew loud.

After his 2007 World Cup performance, the media wanted to see their golden boy take the captaincy, but it didn't work out well. He immediately fell further as a batsman, making three centuries in his two-year stint that also saw the loss of players to the Indian Cricket League in 2008. There were allegations of him being willing to play in the rebel league. He lost his captaincy to Mashrafe Mortaza after his affinity for a dab past the wicketkeeper cost Bangladesh a game against Ireland in the 2009 World Twenty20.

And as the team started to have more performers, he lost his place regularly in the next few years, though new coaches always had an inclination towards bringing him back. This has been really due to the sheer weight of his talent, and nothing else.
Mohammad Isam

• September 8, 2001
  Historical mismatch
  • At 17 years and 63 days, becomes the youngest Test centurion, even as Bangladesh go down by an innings in Colombo. Later says he had dreamt of Brian Lara's 375 and himself scoring a century the previous night.
    
• March 10, 2004
  A rare event
  • His first international win. And it's he who sets it up with a 32-ball 51 to help Bangladesh reach 238 in Harare, eight more than what Zimbabwe would score. It is his 24th ODI, and his third year in international cricket.
    
• December 19, 2004
  India see the light
  • Scores a breathtaking century against India in Chittagong - 158 off 194 balls, hitting 24 boundaries and three sixes. Is left stranded, as Bangladesh fall just short avoiding the follow-on. They eventually lose by an innings and 83 runs.
    
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• February 4, 2005
  Duleep Trophy misadventure
  • Is named the captain of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) XI to tour India for the Duleep Trophy. BCB XI fail to score a point in the tournament, losing one match outright and one on first-innings basis.
    
• June 18, 2005
  The upset of the century?
  • The century that rings around the world. Australia's 249 in Cardiff looks good enough when he walks in at 51 for 2, but the script is inverted by the time he leaves after scoring 100 off 101 balls. This is the biggest triumph in the history of Bangladesh cricket.
    
• May, 2006
  Sings up with Liverpool's Rainhill Cricket Club to play league cricket.
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• April 7, 2007
  Stings South Africa
  • Plays a blinder to help Bangladesh beat South Africa in Guyana - their second big upset at World Cup. His 87 off 83 balls takes Bangladesh to 251, following which the left-arm spin trinity spins it web.
    
• April 30, 2007
  Natural progression
  • Is appointed the vice-captain for home series against India. In a disappointing series, the real Ashraful turns up only in the last innings, where he scores a dazzling 67, but can't help an innings defeat.
    
• On June 2, is named the captain for Sri Lanka and ICC World Twenty20.
  
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• June-July, 2007
  Captain as good as his team
  • Although he scores a solid century in the second Test, his debut series as captain is a 0-3 disaster, Sri Lanka having to bat only once in each of the Tests.
    
• September 13, 2007
  Fastest fifty
  • Scores, in 20 balls, what is the fastest half-century in Twenty20 internationals at the time. West Indies are at the receiving end of the onslaught at the Wanderers as Bangladesh chase down 165 with two overs to spare.
    
• March 16, 2008
  In a row with front row
  • Is embroiled in a row when he is accused of scuffling with two men during the team's practice session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Under pressure following some poor results, gets into an altercation with two men after returning from a practice session; he has already been booed by some spectators.
    
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• April, 2008
  Where are the results?
  • In about a year at the helm, has won only one international - as captain - against any serious opposition: a Twenty20 match against West Indies in the World Twenty20. Apart from that, Bangladesh have won three ODIs against Ireland, and another Twenty20 against Kenya.
    
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• 26 and 114 v Sri Lanka, Colombo, 2001-02
  • Sanath Jayasuriya has been a touch condescending in sending Bangladesh in on a near-perfect batting track in Colombo. Jayasuriya doesn't want to waste time, and Bangladesh oblige by getting bowled out for 90, theb17-year-old Ashraful being the top-scorer. Further humiliation visited Bangladesh as Jayasuriya calls back Marvan Atapattu (201) and Mahela Jayawardene (150), and the two go down "retired out" in the scorebook.
    
• 158 not out v India, Chittagong, 2004-05
  • The innings is typical of Ashraful, the timing of the innings isn't; for it comes with the Test still alive and it takes Bangladesh to just short of avoiding a follow-on in Chittagong, which could have resulted in a draw. Responding to India's 540 Bangladesh find themselves in a familiar state at 54 for 3, when Ashraful starts his special. Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh make no impression whatsoever, as the innings from Ashraful has the sense of the fearless, the authoritative, and the pure. He gets to his 50 off 70 balls, and if that is quick he increases the pace even more to reach his century in 125 balls: from 76 to the hundred he moves in seven balls. India don't know what to do: they set the field back, hoping for an error. In the end they have to contend with errors from the other end, as Ashraful stays not out for 158, the highest in Tests by a Bangladeshi. But with minimal support from the tail, Ashraful and Bangladesh fall eight short of avoiding the follow-on, and normal service resumes in the second innings as they fail to make India bat again.
    
• 100 v Australia, Cardiff, 2005
  • It is just another normal, one-sided ODI - something expected of Australia v Bangladesh - for about three-fourths of a hot day in Cardiff. The pre-match odds are a suitable 500-1; Australia have scored 249, and Bangladesh are off to a slow start, getting to 72 for 3 in 21 overs. Nobody seems to have told a red-hot Ashraful that; he seems to be playing a different set of bowlers on a different pitch: Habibul Bashar scores only 47 in the match-turning 150-run fourth-wicket partnership. He hits 11 boundaries in a run-a-ball maiden ODI century, and by the time he leaves Bangladesh need 23 in 17 balls. Aftab Ahmed takes them over the line, and Ashraful has enacted the greatest upset in ODI history.
    
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• 136 v Sri Lanka, Chittagong, 2005-06
  • For once this is a knock by Ashraful setting up the tune of the match, rather than playing catch-up or plain bravado when there is nothing to lose. Bangladesh have won the toss in the first Test at the Divisional Stadium, and have got off to a stable start when Ashraful starts dominating. He is quick on the feet, creative with his scoring, and cheeky against Murali, who is playing his 100th Test and will go on to turn the game Sri Lanka's way in the second innings. Ashraful hooks his way from 97 to 101, bisecting two men, 10 yards apart, meant exactly for that shot. His 136 comes in 184 balls, including 15 boundaries and three sixes, and leaves the game nicely set-up. And before Murali gets into his act in the second innings, the match is a close-run affair.
    
• 87 v South Africa, Guyana, 2006-07
  • Bangladesh have never played better cricket for a sustained period of time than at the World Cup in the West Indies. Having upset India in their first match, and having made it to the Super Eights, they are looking to prove they belong there. Ashraful is the man to do just that, against South Africa in Guyana. At 84 for 4 in 23.4 overs, they seem to have fallen prey to the parsimony of Shaun Pollock and the aggression of Andre Nel. Ashraful and Aftab, though, launch a mid-innings assault, and Ashraful, in particular, is delightful. The drag-flicks and the paddle shots over fine-leg are audacious; Ashraful has mastered them long before they have become sexy. Ashraful's 83-ball 87 takes Bangladesh to 251, which is too much for South Africa who are facing the left-arm spin trinity on a subcontinent-like pitch.
    
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Man of the Match

2007
87 v South Africa, Providence
29* v Bermuda, Trinidad

• Best ODI performances
  • 100 v Australia, Cardiff, 2005
    
• 60 v New Zealand, Dhaka, 2008
  • An unbeaten 60 against New Zealand in Dhaka in Bangladesh's successful chase of 201.