Bangladesh Premier Division Cricket League Preview - II (2 December 1998)

2 December 1998

Bangladesh Premier Division Cricket League Preview - II

By Hasan Masood

Brothers Union are perpetually the cool customers of Dhaka cricket. The Gopibagh outfit were runners-up in the league last season with what could be termed as a balanced side, a happy blend of senior and junior players.

Although they hardly have supporters like the two popular crowd-pullers, Abahani and Mohammedan Sporting, Brothers were always considered as one of the major forces in domestic cricket. The coming season will be no exception.

The format of the league is new. There will be 80-overs-a-side matches this season on a single league basis. Obviously, Brothers Union have considered all given factors before composing their team.

The RK Mission Road club have well-nigh kept their team of last year with very minor changes. All their four pool cricketers -- national team vice-captain Khaled Mahmud, opener Shahriar Hossain, middle-order bat Sanwar Hossain and new-ball bowler Shafiuddin Ahmed -- have maintained their allegiance. Most interestingly, they did not even bother to turn up at the BCB office during the three-day long inter-club cricketers' transfer that was held last week.

Wicketkeeper Jahangir Alam, who is still among the World Cup probables, has also stayed put with the team. Besides, Brothers have also retained the services of promising opener Shezan, middle-order bat Wahid, medium-pacer Shahnewaz Shuvro and left-arm spinner Milan.

However, middle-order batsman Halim Shah, slow bowler Mustadir Litu, off-spinner Sohel and pacer Salauddin have left Brothers Union during the transfer.

Among the new comers, National Under-19 leg spinner Shyamol is a bright prospect. Shyamol apart, left-arm spinner Hasan from Ajax, medium-pacer Rashed from Azad Sporting and two Under-16 cricketers, left-handed batsman Javed and wicketkeeper Anwar of Nabin Sangha, have also joined Brothers Union this season. But, they will hardly have any scope to play.

Among the foreign recruits, former Indian Test all-rounder Sanjeev Sharma arrived in the capital last week and looked pretty confident yesterday morning during the nets at the Bangabandhu.

Two Pakistanis, veteran Zahid Ahmed and Aamir Hanif, who are playing for Brothers Union for the last couple of seasons, and perhaps a young spinner from Delhi (name not known), are the other three probables likely to fill their foreigners' quota for this season.

"I think we have a pretty good side this year. This is almost the side we had last season. A few have gone but I don't think that will have any bearing," said national coach Osman Khan while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.

"Last year, two defeats threw us away from the title race. I don't mind the defeat against Azad in a rain-curtailed match at the BKSP, but I have all the reasons to believe that the defeat against Abahani was a gift from our local umpires, who gave a lot of controversial decisions against us," said Osman, one of the two assistant coaches to Gordon Greenidge for the National team, which won the ICC trophy last year.

"Poor and biased umpiring is the main headache for teams like ours. This is a bad trend and that is why I want foreign umpires to conduct the league from the very beginning," said Osman.

When asked about his team's strengths, Osman claimed that his team is one of the most balanced sides, which will perform better this time.

"We have a different ball game this season. Boys will have to play two-day matches. They have to bat for 80 overs, which is a very new thing to them. There will be more slips, close-in fielders and you have to have the habit of not trying with every ball. We have only one week's time to teach all these things to the boys and that is the only problem right now.

"Anyway, we are trying our best to motivate the boys within this short time and I think, if everything goes well, we will have a better result in the league this year. We will fight for the championship. All we need is a good team effort and the boys are ready to give their hundred percent," said Osman.

About his probable batting order, Osman informed that Shahriar and Shezan would open the innings, followed by Sanwar and Jahangir. Sanjeev Sharma and Khaled Mahmud, who is tipped to lead the team this season, would come in at number five and six.

"At seven, there will be Shyamol, if we don't have any foreigners. Then we have Shuvro, Hasan and Babu to bat. So I think we have depth in out batting."

"We have four pacers in Shafiuddin, Shuvro, Khaled Mahmud and Sanjeev Sharma and our spin squad will also be very powerful with Shyamol, Hasan, Shezan and Sanwar," added Osman.

About the other leading teams, Osman tipped reigning champions Abahani as the most powerful side.

"Abahani is a different team. They have good organisational back-up, which is very essential to manage a good cricket team. Besides, Biman and Surjo Tarun have also organised good teams. There is going to be a lot of fun this year," Osman concluded.

With Osman looking quite confident, Khaled Mahmud, the captain designate, was also in the same mood last morning.

Although, he repeated everything his coach had said, one thing he said about Sanwar Hossain was rather interesting.

"Everybody knows him as a batsman. But he is a fine tweaker of the ball. Last season his five-wicket haul helped us to beat Kalabagan. This time he is going to do even better. I tell you, his reverse spin is almost like that of Saqlain Mushtaq," said Mahmud.

Whatever is the outcome, Brothers Union will always play entertaining cricket. Watch out for their league opener against promotees Sadharan Bima at the BKSP ground next Monday (December 7).

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)